MobiKwik Gets Sebi approval for Rs 1,900-crore IPO

Bengaluru: Digital payments platform Mobikwik has received approval from capital markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India( Sebi), for its Rs 1,900 crore ($255 million) initial public offering (IPO), sources aware of the matter told ETtech.

Mobikwik is expected to launch its IPO before Diwali (November 4) and is likely to fetch a valuation of $1 billion, sources indicated.

“It would be upwards of $1 billion but they (Mobikwik) are still to decide on the price band and are considering if it could be significantly higher than $1 billion valuation,” a person aware of the company’s thinking said.


Mobikwik was last valued at around $700 million in its previous funding round in April and was eyeing a valuation of $1 billion when it filed its draft IPO papers for its public market listing, ETtech reported in July.

The company is said to have garnered interest from sovereign wealth funds and financial investors for anchor investment in its IPO. Anchor investors are allotted shares a day before the IPO at a fixed price. This is an indicator of the demand and popularity of the IPO.

When contacted, Mobikwik cofounder Bipin Preet Singh declined to comment on the story.

The Gurugram-based company is among a growing list of consumer internet firms, including Paytm, Nykaa and PolicyBazaar that are eyeing stock market debuts this year. Food-delivery platform Zomato kickstarted the IPO boom among Indian consumer startups when it made a stellar debut in the Indian public markets in July.

Mobikwik’s draft IPO documents showed that it intends to raise around Rs 1,500 crore through a primary share sale, while the remaining will be a secondary transaction where existing investors will sell stakes. According to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), Singh and Upasana Taku plan to sell shares worth over Rs 191 crore in the secondary sale.

Started in 2009 by Singh and Taku, Mobikwik counts Sequoia Capital India, Bajaj Finance, American Express, Cisco and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority among its investors.

ET reported earlier on Friday that Mobikwik’s bigger rival Paytm is also racing to obtain a Sebi nod for its $2.2 billion IPO and start trading as a public firm here before Diwali.