Startup
SoftBank, Snapdeal expect massive returns from Unicommerce IPO
Japan’s Group Corp and online marketplace are expected to see massive returns as , a retail and ecommerce enablement SaaS platform, prepares for a $130-million initial public offering next week.
Snapdeal, part of the AceVector group—the promoter entity of Unicommerce, holds nearly a 35% stake in Unicommerce with an average share acquisition cost of Rs 23.52 apiece, according to its red herring prospectus. Under the offer-for-sale component, it will sell up to 94.38 lakh equity shares to make at least 4X returns.
Meanwhile, the company’s largest institutional shareholder SoftBank will see returns of over 3X by offering up to 1.61 crore equity shares, even if Unicommerce lists at the lower price band, which would give it a valuation of just over $120 million (about Rs 1,010 crore). SoftBank possesses just over a 29% stake and an average share cost of Rs 30.87 a piece, according to the company’s regulatory filings.
Unicommerce, which filed its RHP (red herring prospectus) earlier this week, has set a price band of Rs 102-108 for its IPO scheduled to be launched on August 6. While the anchor investment portion will open on August 5, the Snapdeal-owned firm will make its debut on India’s stock exchanges on August 13. At the upper end of the price band, Unicommerce will be valued at $130 million (or Rs 1,100 crore).
“We are India’s largest ecommerce enablement SaaS platform in the transactional processing layer by revenue for FY23. We have reached a considerable scale, where we are processing 2.1 million transactions every day on the platform,” Kaphil Makija, MD and CEO of Unicommerce, said in a press brief.
Unicommerce’s IPO, consisting solely of an offer-for-sale component of 25.6 million shares, involves only SoftBank and Snapdeal offloading their shares.
Besides SoftBank and Snapdeal, B2 Capital Partners, promoted by Snapdeal co-founders Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl, holds nearly 10% stake in the company. In January, when Unicommerce first filed its draft papers for a potential IPO, the company had offered 29.8 million shares as even B2 Capital Partners were planning to sell about 2.2 million shares. However, Bahl and Bansal decided to withdraw from the offer-for-sale (OFS).
In December last year, Unicommerce expanded its board and inducted Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl as non-executive directors, besides adding a few independent directors.
In addition to their roles as non-executive directors at Unicommerce, Bahl and Bansal are also the co-founders of AceVector Group, which houses Snapdeal, Stellaro Brands, as well as Unicommerce. Snapdeal acquired Unicommerce in 2015 and later sold a 30% stake in the company to SoftBank in 2021.
While SoftBank never directly invested in Unicommerce, it got a stake in the company as it is an investor in Snapdeal. SoftBank has invested more than $600 million in Snapdeal to date.
Unicommerce, founded in 2012, offers SaaS solutions to streamline end-to-end ecommerce operations for brands, retailers, marketplaces, and logistics providers. Its clients include Zivame, Mamaearth, Lenskart, Fabindia, SUGAR Cosmetics, and boAt Lifestyle.
The company’s net profit soared to Rs 13.1 crore for the financial year 2023-24—doubling from Rs 6.5 crore reported in the previous fiscal year.
Unicommerce has reported a 16% growth in the client order volume handled through its platform during mid-year online sales compared with the prior year.