Lava eyes expansion before taking on foreign rivals

The executive director at Lava did not disclose the valuation for its current funding effort

- Shouvik Das & Jatin Grover

Lava, the homegrown smartphone and accessories brand, is in talks with investors to raise up to ₹500 crore ($58 million) in the coming months before pursuing a public listing, a senior company executive said, as the company looks to ramp up its presence in the country.

Sunil Raina, executive director at Lava International, did not disclose the valuation for its funding effort but referred to an earlier attempt. "During our listing attempt in September 2021, bankers had assigned us a ₹14,000 crore ($1.7 billion) valuation," he said. He also declined to reveal the likely valuation or a timeline for re-filing its public listing papers. "An initial public offering (IPO) will be a strategic move that we will consider only when we build up a certain scale," Raina said. "To do that, we will invest additional funds into marketing and increase our presence across more markets with both online and offline retailers."