SoftBank-backed OfBusiness plans up to $1 bln India IPO, exec says

SoftBank-backed OfBusiness, an Indian shopping website that offers raw materials to businesses, is planning an Indian stock market offering worth up to $1 billion and is close to appointing bankers, a top executive told Reuters on Tuesday.

The company is in active talks with Bank of America, Citi, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley to manage the offer and plans to list on the Indian bourses in the second half of 2025, its Chief Financial Officer Bhavesh Keswani said.

The initial public offering is expected to total between $750 million and $1 billion, with about $200 million in new shares and the rest shares offered by existing shareholders to new investors, Keswani said.

"The IPO proceeds will be used for debt repayment and growing existing business," he said in the company's first public comments on the IPO planning.

The four banks did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Japanese tech investor SoftBank Group and US based investment firm Tiger Global have a roughly 15 per cent stake collectively, while international investment firm Alpha Wave Global holds 18 per cent.

OfBusiness is targeting a valuation between $6 billion and $9 billion, said a senior industry source with direct knowledge of the plans. Keswani declined to comment on the valuation.

The company, founded in 2015 by husband-wife duo of Asish Mohapatra and Ruchi Kalra, has so far raised more than $800 million from investors. Its last 2021 funding round valued it at around $5 billion.

It is forging its plans while India's stock market is in a hot streak, with its benchmark index up 16 per cent so far this year, outdoing its Asian peers.

Ola Electric, also backed by SoftBank, recently listed in India, while Hyundai Motor is planning a $3 billion IPO later this year.

OfBusiness is a business-to-business online platform that offers polymer products, agricultural goods, such as pulses, as well as industrial steel sold by likes of Tata Steel.

Manufacturing and construction sectors are on an upswing in India, which is currently the world's fastest-growing major economy.

In fiscal year 2024 that ended in March the company made a $72.6 million after-tax profit on revenue of $2.3 billion, and OfBusiness is in the process of merging some of its subsidiaries to streamline the business ahead of the IPO, Keswani said.