Milkbasket, a Gurugram-based grocery-delivery platform, plans to go for an initial public offering by the second half of next year, said the company’s top executive.
The online grocery delivery segment has gained significant traction amid COVID-19 pandemic. Offline retailers, who have taken a major hit on account of the lockdown, are also keen on partnering with digital platforms to facilitate the delivery of goods.
In a statement, Anant Goel, co-founder and chief executive officer of Milkbasket, “Milkbasket has a near-perfect record of reaching growth targets since being founded in 2015. The rapid adoption of at-home grocery delivery amongst consumers due to the pandemic has provided us with an impetus to target IPO in just a year, which we had initially planned for the year 2023.”
Milkbasket, which already offers delivery of over 9,000 products across fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), dairy, fruits and vegetables categories in five cities (Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad and Bengaluru), currently has an average revenue run rate (ARR) of about USD 100 million.
“We are now working on the process for an IPO… The process takes time and we are still in early stages, but we are looking at possibly next year… second half. For now, the thought process is to list in India, we are an Indian company and well recognised in India,” he said.
Goel also denied reports of being in talks for selling out the business to Paytm Mall and Reliance Industries.
“These are reports that I also keep reading. We are not looking at getting acquired. Like any other start-up, we are open to investments, but we aren’t selling off the business.
“We are seeing strong growth and are scaling it up further. We are EBIDTA-positive already, so whether we receive the funding or not, the IPO plan is on,” he said.
Goel said the company has seen significant growth in its business over the last few months.
“We are approximately Rs 700 crore-turnover company and we are growing, we should be Rs 1,000 crore in the next couple of quarters,” he noted.
Milkbasket has raised a total of USD 33 million in equity funding from Inflection Point Ventures, Mayfield India, Beenext, Kalaari Capital, Unilever Ventures, Blume Ventures, Lenovo Capital (LCIG), few family offices, and venture debt funding by Innoven Capital.
Interestingly, Softbank-backed Grofers had also spoken of advancing its plan to launch an initial public offer by the end of next year after its profitability path zoomed during the lockdown period.
Grofers co-founder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa had said the company started making operational profit in January, and expects to become cash positive by the end of this year.
According to a recent report by Goldman Sachs, India’s e-commerce business is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27 per cent to reach USD 99 billion by 2024, with grocery and fashion/apparel likely to be the key drivers of incremental growth.