Fresh to Home, XpressBees plan to raise $200 mn each

MUMBAI: Fresh-to-Home and XpressBees, portfolio companies of Bahrain-based alternative asset manager Investcorp, are in talks with investors to raise at least $200 million each, likely turning them into unicorns or startups valued at more than $1 billion.

Fresh-to-Home is run by Freshtohome Foods Pvt. Ltd, while BusyBees Logistics Solutions Pvt. Ltd operates XpressBees. Both are in the process of raising capital over the next couple of months, said Gaurav Sharma, head of private equity (PE) at Investcorp India. He said that the companies may consider public listings 12-18 months after the fundraising.

“It will be a secondary and primary round…it is a function of the valuation, but we are looking at raising north of $200 million for both the companies at potentially unicorn valuation...I would be disappointed if both did not hit unicorn valuations,” Sharma said in an interview.

Fresh-to-Home’s rival, Licious, turned unicorn last week after raising $50 million from IIFL’s late-stage private equity fund at a $1.4 billion valuation.

Investcorp is also planning a public listing of dialysis chain Nephroplus. “In the next 12 to 18 months, it is very much possible that a company like Nephroplus can go public,” Sharma said, adding that Investcorp would be comfortable if Nephroplus hits a revenue milestone of ₹500 crore before the public listing.

“I think that’s the right number for us to go public.”

Nephroplus is run by Nephrocare Health Services Pvt. Ltd, which attracted $45 million from Investcorp as part of its Series D round of funding in November 2019. In FY20, Nephroplus clocked a revenue of around ₹270 crore.

Investcorp, led by Mohammed Alardhi, executive chairman, has been investing in India since 2011 and has deployed capital across 10 companies.

Its other investments include non-banking financial company (NBFC) InCred, eye care provider ASG Eye Hospitals Pvt. Ltd, apparel retain chain Citykart Retail Pvt. Ltd, and co-living services provider Zolostays.

Investcorp recent investments include e-commerce solutions provider Unilog, Safari Industries (India) Ltd and online apparel platform Bewakoof.