BoAt drops IPO plans, to raise $60 million from Warburg, others

Imagine Marketing Pvt. Ltd, which operates audio gear and wearables brand, boAt is raising around Rs 500 crore in a fresh round of equity funding led by its existing backer Warburg Pincus and new investor Malabar Investments after dropping its listing plans due to concerns related to market conditions. 

The Mumbai-Based boAt had filed its DRHP in January this year to raise Rs 2,000 crore through an initial public offering (IPO). However, just like several other startups including PharmEasy and Droom Technologies, the company too put the listing plans in backburner due to tough market conditions.  

Warburg Pincus has participated in this round through one of its affiliates South lake Investment. The company will secure this growth capital in as private placement through preference shares.  

The transaction will value the company around $1.4 billion, equivalent to what it was planning to seek during its IPO. 

The infusion is primarily meant for the company to accelerate its plans to ramp up its smart watches category and scaling up business across channels and geographies (both within and outside India). It also seeks to further boost its audio category, enhance its R&D and design capabilities, and build up local manufacturing. 

“We now want to make smartwatches our second core and will replicate the boAt digital playbook to become global leaders in this category as well. The new funding will allow us to invest significantly to disrupt the smart watches spaces with more innovative products,” said Aman Gupta, co-founder and chief marketing officer at boAt. 

The Mumbai-Based boAt had filed its DRHP in January this year to raise Rs 2,000 crore through an initial public offering (IPO). However, just like several other startups including PharmEasy and Droom Technologies, the company too put the listing plans in backburner due to tough market conditions. 

The company is also diversifying its manufacturing footprint via partnerships with various leading EMS players in India, including Dixon, with whom it has also created a manufacturing joint venture. In past, the startup has entered into similar arrangement with leading global companies like Qualcomm (also a shareholder in boAt), Dolby, Dirac to make its products more competitive and of superior quality. 

The brand claims that it has closed financial year 2021-22 with a revenue of nearly Rs 3,000 crore. 

The company, while keeping its ambitious IPO plans in mind, decked up its top management early this year with key 6 hirings.  

In April 2021, boAt had received an undisclosed amount in funding from Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of wireless technologies major Qualcomm Inc. A year prior to that, the company raised Rs 735 crore in its series B round of funding from private equity giant Warburg Pincus.