BookMyShow eyes unicorn status with new stake sale : Report

Bigtree Entertainment Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates the online ticketing platform BookMyShow, is in talks to sell 10-12% stake, The Times of India reported.

The sale will see SAIF Partners, which invested in the company in 2014 exit completely and Accel India partially sell its stake, the report said.

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek, US-based private equity firm General Atlantic and investment bank Goldman Sachs were among the key investors evaluating the deal. 

The report also quoted sources saying that the deal will value the ticketing platform at $1.1 billion, up from $750 million during its Series D round in July 2018 led by TPG Growth. 

BookMyShow did not respond to specific queries till the time of publishing the article.

The company, formed in 1999 by Ashish Hemrajani, Parikshit Dar and Rajesh Balpande, is facing tough competition from Paytm. SAIF is a common investor in BookMyShow and Paytm, one of the reasons cited by for the firm’s complete exit from BookMyShow.

The net loss of BookMyShow widened in financial year 2017-18 to Rs 162 crore from Rs 140 crore the previous year and expenditure rose to Rs 568 crore from Rs 443 crore in 2016-17 as it took the fight to Paytm by producing live shows and events.

The company also got into the audio entertainment business through its offering Jukebox last year.