Infibeam prepares for IPO launch on the Indian bourses

Ahmedabad-based e-commerce player Infibeam is ready to announce its public listing on the Indian stock exchange, becoming the first ecommerce firm to take this step. Interestingly the company has also kept itself away from raising funds from VCs, while leading players in the ecommerce space are escalating valuations to attract funds.

Infibeam has filed its draft red hearing prospectus (DRHP) and is expecting to raise about Rs 450 crores from initial public offering (IPO) at a valuation of Rs 1,800 crores. While Infibeam and Flipkart started off in the same year, way back in 2007, there a huge gap between valuations of both these companies. Flipkart today is considered the leader of India’s ecommerce market with a valuation of

Also, as per the DRHP, Infibeam’s user base has increased 33 percent annually from three million in 2012 to about 7.2 million as of March. This is again is too low compared to Flipkart's estimated registered users of 30 million. But, industry experts say that Infibeam has managed to create a cash positive business with real numbers unlike its competitors, who are burning funds to increase its user base.

Infibeam's annualised revenues for FY15 are estimated to be at Rs 290 crores, 39 percent higher than Rs 208 crores in FY14. While losses have reduced from Rs 26 crores in FY14 to Rs 9.6 crore in the first nine months of FY15, it is just about at breakeven at the operational level from a loss of Rs19 crores in FY14. For the nine months ending December 31, 2014 the company has had cash and bank balances of Rs 63 crores from Rs 4.4 crore in FY14.