Meesho’s IPO: Can massive reach translate into profits?

SoftBank-backed e-commerce firm Meesho comes to the public markets this week confident in a model that has rewritten India’s e-commerce rules—building a vast, low-price marketplace with one of the industry’s lowest average order values (AOVs), even as it continues to test that model’s limits.

- Mayur Bhalerao

Meesho founders Sanjeev Kumar (left) and Vidit Aatrey have raised their stakes, from ₹6.7 crore to ₹15.2 crore, each.

Its ₹5,421 crore initial public offering, or IPO, opening Wednesday, is built around a large ₹4,250 crore fresh issue and a sharply reduced offer for sale (OFS), trimmed by nearly 40% from, from 11.8 millions shares to 16 million shares. Early investors pared back their exits, but founders Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Kumar have increased theirs, from ₹6.7 crore to ₹15.2 crore each a move, hinting at both liquidity needs and belief in the business they are about to list.