Consumer electronics brand BOAT Lifestyle plans to raise around Rs 3,000-3,500 crore ($400-500 million) through the proposed IPO. Management held discussions with investment bankers and the mandate would be signed in a few weeks, several people aware of the development said.
The valuation of the company is likely to be in the range of Rs 11,000 crore ($1.5 billion). Details of the volume of primary and secondary share sales are not yet known.
US-based private equity fund Warburg Pincus is the largest investor in BOAT, holding around 30% stake. Other investors include Qualcomm Ventures and Fireside Ventures which together hold less than 5%.
A person said the DRHP will be filed in a few months and the IPO is expected by early 2022. Mumbai-based boAt, founded in 2016 by Sameer Mehta and Aman Gupta, sells headphones, earphones, wearables, speakers and related accessories such as chargers and cables.
boAt, operated by Imagine Marketing Pvt Ltd, had earlier this year raised around Rs 750 crore ($100 million) from US-based Warburg Pincus. Qualcomm Ventures invested Rs 50 crore in April at a valuation of Rs 2,200 crore. In 2019, boAt received Rs 20 crore as venture loan from BAC Acquisition, founded by Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal.
The startup had generated revenue of around Rs 700 crore for FY20.
boAt is the fifth largest wearable brand globally. In India, boAt competes with brands like OnePlus, Samsung, Realme, JBL, Bose and Palred (Ptron).
In April, BoAt partnered with 6 Indian Premier League (IPL) teams as their official audio partner. The brand ambassadors of boAt include KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal.
According to recent data by International Data Corporation (IDC), the earwear category in India grew by 113.1% year-on-year in the April-June quarter (2Q21), shipping 9.2 million units. BoAt's aggressive shipments and diversified portfolio helped it garner a 45.5% stake in 2Q21. It also led the true wireless (TWS) category with a 39.6% share in the quarter. In the watch category, BoAt came second with a market share of 26.9%.
According to International Data Corporation, India's wearables market grew 118.2% year-on-year (YoY) in 2Q21 (April-June), with shipping 11.2 million units. The earwear category has maintained its momentum, doubling its shipments in 2Q21 and remains the largest category in wearables.
The second wave of COVID-19 had a marginal impact as overall wearables shipments declined 1.3% sequentially in 2Q21.
Shipments declined in the initial quarter as a result of partial lockdowns, weekend curfews and disrupted supply chains.
However, unlike last year, the market recovered sharply as vendors stocked channels to meet consumer demand in June 2021.
Indian startups that are set to enter the capital market include Nykaa, MobiKwik, Tracxn, Delhivery and Paytm.
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