E-commerce firm Meesho is preparing to hit the public markets in early December, in what could be one of the biggest internet listings of the year. The Bengaluru-based company aims to raise around ₹6,000 crore through its much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO), comprising a fresh issue of ₹4,250 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 17.57 crore equity shares. The issue will allow early backers such as Elevation Capital and Peak XV Partners to partially exit.

According to industry sources, Meesho is targeting a listing in the second week of December and expects to mobilise around ₹6,000 crore from investors.

Backed by marquee investors including SoftBank, Prosus, and Elevation Capital, Meesho filed its updated draft red herring prospectus (UDRHP) with the market regulator Sebi last month.

Under the OFS component, existing investors such as Elevation Capital V Limited, Peak XV Partners Investments V, Highway Series 1 (Venture Highway SPVs LLC), Y Combinator Continuity Holdings I LLC, Golden Summit Limited, VH Capital, VH Capital XI, and individual shareholders including Vidit Aatrey, Sanjeev Kumar, and Man Hay Tam, will sell part of their stakes.

Meesho plans to deploy the proceeds from the fresh equity issuance to strengthen its cloud infrastructure through subsidiary Meesho Technologies Private Limited, fund salaries for AI, machine learning, and technology teams, and invest in marketing, brand initiatives, and strategic acquisitions. A portion will also be set aside for general corporate purposes.

In FY25, Meesho emerged as India’s largest e-commerce platform by annual transacting users (ATUs) and annual placed orders, connecting over 500,000 sellers with approximately 199 million ATUs and facilitating 1.8 billion orders.

The company’s user engagement continues to deepen — ATUs grew 28% year-on-year, reaching around 213 million for the 12 months ended June 2025. Order frequency increased from 7.5x in FY23 to 9.4x by mid-2025, reflecting stronger buyer loyalty.

As per the DRHP, total orders climbed from 1 billion in FY23 to 1.8 billion in FY25, with 562 million orders in the June 2025 quarter — a 50% jump year-on-year. Growth was broad-based, with orders from the top eight cities rising 46%, outpacing the platform’s overall 37% expansion.

The IPO document showed that Meesho’s net merchandise value (NMV) surged 29% year-on-year to ₹29,988 crore in FY25, and accelerated to ₹8,679 crore in Q1 FY26, up 36% from a year earlier.

Despite heavy investments, the company turned free cash flow positive in FY25, a sharp turnaround from a negative ₹2,336 crore a year earlier to ₹1,032 crore (including interest income).

The firm’s loss before tax and exceptional items narrowed to ₹108 crore in FY25 from ₹1,672 crore in FY23. However, net loss widened to ₹3,942 crore, primarily due to one-time charges linked to its corporate restructuring and “reverse flip” tax obligations.

In Q1 FY26, Meesho continued to invest in scaling up operations, reporting a 36% jump in NMV and a 50% increase in orders. Higher technology and server expenses pushed its loss before exceptional items to ₹148 crore and net loss to ₹289 crore, consistent with its expansion strategy.

The IPO will be managed by Kotak Mahindra Capital, J.P. Morgan India, Morgan Stanley India, Axis Capital, and Citigroup Global Markets.

(DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed by investment experts on fortuneindia.com are either their own or of their organisations, but not necessarily that of fortuneindia.com and its editorial team. Readers are advised to consult certified experts before taking investment decisions.)