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Nykaa E-Retail Pvt. has selected banks for its initial public offering in Mumbai that could raise at least $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
The online cosmetics retailer is working with Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. and Morgan Stanley on the potential offering, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. A listing could value the TPG Capital-backed start-up at about $4 billion, the people added.
The Indian company founded by Falguni Nayar, a former investment banker, plans to file an initial draft prospectus for the IPO as soon as June and aims for a listing before the end of this year, the people said.
Details of the offering including the size and timeline could change and more banks could be added, the people said. Representatives for Kotak Mahindra and Morgan Stanley declined to comment, while a representative from Nykaa didn’t immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
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Founded in 2012, Nykaa’s platform lists more than 1,200 brands ranging from makeup and skin care to health supplements and hair dryers, according to its website. It has six warehouses across India. Nykaa is derived from the Sanskrit word “Nayaka” which means actress or one in the spotlight.
Nykaa also counts Indian tycoon Sunil Munjal’s family office Hero Enterprise among its backers. In November, Fidelity Management and Research Co. invested an undisclosed amount in Nykaa’s latest funding round. The start-up is among companies that have benefited as Indian consumers increasingly shop online — a trend bolstered by the pandemic-led lockdown last year.
Nykaa is joining a slew of Indian start-ups in going public this year. Online food delivery chain Zomato and online insurance platform Policybazaar are in queue for IPOs in the local market, Bloomberg News has reported. The South Asian country is also seeing a boom in its technology industry where at least six new start-ups reached a valuation of $1 billion or more last week.
By Anto Antony and Baiju Kalesh
