POLICYBAZAAR PLANS TO FILE FOR IPO NEXT MONTH

MUMBAI: Online insurance platform Policybazaar is planning to file a draft prospectus as soon as next month for its initial public offering (IPO) that could raise about $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

The SoftBank Group Corp.-backed startup is seeking a listing before the end of this year, said the people, asking not to be identified as the information is private. An offering, which could value Policybazaar at more than $3.5 billion, would involve new stocks and secondary shares from existing shareholders, the people said.

Deliberations are ongoing and details including size and timing could still change, the people said. A representative for Policybazaar declined to comment, adding the board hasn’t approved any IPO activity. A representative for SoftBank declined to comment.

Policybazaar, which also counts Tiger Global management and Temasek Holdings Pte. among its backers, could rank among the first of India’s mega startups to go public this year. Online food delivery chain Zomato and online beauty care chain Nyka E-retail Pvt. and some of the nation’s tech companies are in queue for IPOs in the local market, Bloomberg News had reported.

India’s tech industry has attracted billions of dollars from global giants. Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google are pouring capital into partnerships with local operator Jio Platforms Inc., while Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos has said “the 21st century is going to be the Indian century.”