Jobaaj Stories
Baby products startup FirstCry is reportedly in conversation with sovereign funds to assist some of its shareholders in selling their stake, reportedly at a valuation of $3 billion.
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FirstCry is an Indian baby and kids products startup which began operations in 2010. The website it operates serves as a shopping platform catered specifically for children. Various products in feeding, nursing, skincare, toys, clothes, accessories and other categories are available for infants.
According to reports, Firstcry's largest shareholder holding 29% of the company, Softbank, will be offloading a portion of its stake as the discussions are ongoing. This round will reportedly be treated as a pre-IPO round.
Sovereign funds from Gulf countries and other pension funds are reportedly in talks to join this round of secondary share sales wherein around $100 million worth of shares will be traded. The company may look to domestic funds to improve domestic ownership as well.
The company was previously valued at around $2.7 billion when it failed to raise money from the NIIF and had Premji Invest come to its rescue in April 2022.
However, none of these facts could be independently corroborated.
The company initially had plans to go public, but poor market sentiments and a string of poor startup stock performances in mid-2022 forced the company to postpone its IPO plans.
- Aman Agarwal
