Delhivery plans listing in 12-18 months

SoftBank-backed logistics unicorn Delhivery Pvt. Ltd is planning an initial public offering (IPO) in 18-24 months, a top executive said, joining a list of Indian startups looking to raise money and pave exits for their investors. The Gurugrambased company is waiting for upcoming rules on foreign listing but would prefer to list in India, chief business officer Sandeep Barasia said. They had approached consultants to plan a listing, Barasia said.

“Two years ago, when we were trying to go public, it so happened that the timing of our decision to go public coincided with the Indian general elections, and it was probably not the best time to go public because a lot of focus was going to be on elections…plus, there was already a private capital pool that was available, so we basically, pushed it back. Our view is that in the next 18-24 months, we do see ourselves going back into the public market,” Barasia added.

Zomato, InMobi, Paytm, Ola, Grofers, PolicyBazaar, PhonePe and Lenskart are among Indian startups currently looking to go public. “If we have the choice to list anywhere without any restrictions, then we will choose to list in the market most suitable for us at that time. Delhivery is an Indian company and we will be representing India wherever we will list. We have to wait for the Sebi guidelines, and if we have full freedom on where we can list, then we will pick the best market, and that best market might be still India for us,” Barasia added. Mint reported on September 11 that Sebi is finalising regulations on overseas IPOs, possibly with a ‘dual listing’ clause. Delhivery became a unicorn in 2019 when it raised $413 million in a Series F round led by SoftBank Vision Fund, along with existing investors Carlyle Group and Fosun International. It was then valued at $1.5 billion.

Tarush Bhalla contributed to this story.