India’s internet giants Flipkart, Paytm, Zomato gear up for IPOs

NEW DELHI, Oct 8, 2020, FE. Internet giants Flipkart, Paytm, Zomato, Big Basket and others could be in for making their stock market debuts in 2021 and beyond that, said a report by global brokerage and research firm Bernstein, Financial Express reported.

These Indian unicorns are now household names in tier-1 and tier-2 cities across India and have a significant stake in their respective industry. Recently, stock markets have witnessed a rush of initial public offerings, and retail investors have been at the forefront when it comes to subscribing to these issues. Individual investors have oversubscribed all the IPOs in recent months.

With the entry of these internet giants, the IPO market could be on its way to become more appealing to retail investors. Serving the e-commerce, fin tech, ed tech, and food delivery industry these companies are expected to see their business flourish with the augmentation and acceptance of the internet ecosystem in India. However, so far none of these companies have initiated any proceedings with the market regulator that could hint that they are seeking to be listed on bourses.

The leading e-commerce website in India is valued at $25 billion, according to the last round of funding which was in July this year. Backed by US-Retail giant Walmart, Flipkart is battling it out in the e-commerce space with Amazon and now Reliance Jio Mart. “E-Commerce in India has low penetration, but the market is growing rapidly. E-Commerce is expected to grow more than five-fold to US$133 Bn by 2025,” the report noted. Currently e-commerce has a low penetration in India with less than 5% of the market share but the same is pegged to cross 10% by 2025. Flipkart’s active customers in 2014 were just 7.7 million but at the end of fiscal year 2019, it was at 61.9 million.

Started in 2007, Flipkart was the first mover in E-Commerce in India. “Walmart acquired Flipkart in 2018 for US$16 Bn. Flipkart also owns standalone fashion portals Myntra and Jabong. Flipkart has a captive logistics arm, Ekart which handles ~80% of its shipments,” Bernstein said. The IPO is expected in 2021.

Byjus

Byjus is India’s largest Ed-Tech company with 70 million registered users and 4.5 million annual paid subscriptions. The company provides online app-based learning content through video lectures for school students and coaching for entrance exams. With India’s high number of school students at around 260 million, 5 times that of the United States, Byjus has a large base of audience to cater to. “Schools halting operations due to Covid-19 resulted in ~40-50% of the students enrolling for EdTech in India. Engagement has shot up with time spent ~1.5x of pre Covid,” the report said.

Backed by Sequoia, Naspers, and Lightspeed the ed-tech firm is valued at $10.8 billion. However, recently Mukesh Ambani stepped foot into the Ed-tech space which would make things competitive in the space. The IPO of Byjus is planned for 2022-23.

Paytm

Founded in 2010, the fintech company is a leading player in India’s digital payments landscape. According to Bernstein, digital payment penetration in India in private consumption expenditure is 15%, which is significantly lower than where mature markets stand. However, the outlook for the digital payments space is sound. “Paytm currently is the leading mobile payment platform with 150-200 Mn active users and 16 Mn merchants,” the report added. Paytm is now targeting digital consumer lending, Insurance, wealth management, stock broking, and general baking with its payments bank.

With a strong management team, Paytm has investors including Softbank, Ant Financials, T Rowe Price, Discovery Capital. It is valued at $16 billion and its IPO is expected in 2022.

Ola

With presence in over 250 cities, the cab aggregator has over 50% market share in India with 1.5 million driver partners and 1 billion rides, annually. “Ola’s standalone revenue was US$ 308 Mn in FY19 and has grown at 39% CAGR over FY16-FY19,” the report said. Investors include Softbank, Tiger Global, Tencent, Matrix Global, etc. The company has raised a total funding of $3.3 Billion till date and is valued at $7 billion with IPO plans for 2021.

PhonePe

Catering to the same audience as Paytm, PhonePe is another major digital payment service provider in India, which is backed by Flipkart. “ PhonePe is currently processing annualized total payments value (TPV) of $180 Bn, with ~500 Mn monthly transactions. PhonePe has currently ~180 Mn+ users,” the report noted. Additionally the firm has reduced its dependence on Flipkart for business to just 1%. UPI payments in India are now witnessing higher monthly volumes than debit cards in India.

“PhonePe, through Walmart (which owns Flipkart), could look to take its payment solutions to the North American market. The company is looking to turn profitable by 2022 and go public by 2023,” Bernstein said. PhonePe is valued at $7 billion.

Delhivery

It is the largest logistics player in the e-commerce segment with over 20 % revenue market share and a large infrastructure footprint of 5mn + sq. ft. “E-commerce industry is expected to be $ 90 billion by 2023 growth at a CAGR of 30%+ in 5 years,” the report said. Delhivery now serves 18,000 pin codes. Global investors of the company include Carlyle & Fosun and the company has raised $780 million so far. The IPO is expected in 2021-2022.

Zomato

The food services industry in India is worth $80 billion. “Online food delivery is expected to grow strongly to reach $ 22 Bn by 2025 growing at 40% CAGR,” Bernstein said. In this segment Zomato has a market share of 50%. Post the coronavirus aided lockdown, the focus on profitability has led to improvement in contribution margin for Zomato. In the first quarter of this fiscal, contribution margin was at Rs 27 per order against a loss in the year ago period. Ant Financials, Temasek, Tiger Global, and InfoEdge are some of the investors. IPO plans are for the first half of 2021 and the company is valued at $3.3 billion.

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