boAt hires three bankers for its $300-500 million IPO

 boAt a manufacturer of smartwatches and audio goods, has finalized a number of bankers for an IPO that is expected to cost between $300 and $500 million next year.

The business has onboarded ICICI Securities, Goldman Sachs, and Nomura as bankers for the IPO, according to ET, which cited people familiar with the situation.

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The article also stated that although final numbers may change closer to the IPO filing, boAt may aim for a valuation of more over $1.5 billion.

Regarding the development, boAt has refrained from commenting.

It is important to remember that this is the startup's second attempt at an initial public offering. For an INR 2,000 Cr public offering, the business submitted its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in 2022. Plans were eventually halted, though, as cofounder Aman Gupta stated last year that the company was not in a rush to pursue an IPO for the "next couple of years."

Rather than move forward, boAt chose to raise $60 million in private funding from new investor Malabar Investments and current investor Warburg Pincus through convertible preferred shares, with a valuation cap of approximately $1.2 billion.

According to the article, ICICI Securities would serve as the issue's lead banker, and the company intends to file for the next fiscal year. The corporation has selected four bankers in all.

The news comes as boAt's wearables division suffered a sharp reduction in sales, causing its consolidated operating revenue to drop by more than 7% to INR 3,117.7 Cr in the fiscal year 2023–24 (FY24) from INR 3,376.8 Cr in the previous fiscal year. In the year under review, wearables sales fell by about 40%, from INR 910.6 Cr in FY23 to INR 550.3 Cr.

The majority of boAt's sales are in the audio goods area, which witnessed a 5% growth in revenue from FY23 to FY24, from INR 2,350.8 Cr to INR 2,459.2 Cr.

But even though its income dropped, boAt was nevertheless able to reduce its loss in FY24. The net loss of the Aman Gupta-led startup decreased by more than 38% to INR 79.7 Cr in FY23 from INR 129.4 Cr in FY23.

BoAt, which was founded in 2015 by Gupta and Sameer Mehta, sells speakers, smart watches, and headphones and is active in the broader wearables and audio sectors. Among others, Qualcomm Ventures, Ranveer Singh, and Warburg Pincus support it. To date, it has garnered roughly $177 million in funding.

One of the leading brands of audio devices in India is boAt, which faces competition from industry titans like JBL, Sony, Samsung, OnePlus, Noise, and a number of up-and-coming new-age businesses.

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