FirstCry's IPO🤑, Tata Neu to host other brands🛍, Sequoia to harden compliance⚡

FirstCry looking to raise $700 million in IPO, Tata Neu won’t just offer in-house brands, Sequoia India opens up on allegations, Funding Deals & more.

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Apr 18, 2022

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TPG-backed FirstCry nears $700 million IPO filing💹

E-commerce startup FirstCry.com is planning to file for an initial public offering in Mumbai as soon as this month that could raise about $700 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

The online baby product marketplace is seeking a valuation of at least $6 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. The issuance will include both new and existing shares and a listing could take place as soon as this year, the people said.

The company, formally known as BrainBees Solutions Pvt, runs an online store featuring products for children and expecting mothers. Its investors include TPG, SoftBank Group Corp. and PremjiInvest, the family office of Wipro Ltd. founder Azim Premji.

Tata Neu will include offerings beyond Tata Group🛒

Tata Digital’s new ‘super app’ Tata Neu, which houses the Tata conglomerate’s top consumer names such as BigBasket, 1mg and Croma, will be open to hosting external brands from other companies in the future, Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran.

The Tatas launched the app on 7 April (Bloomberg)

Tata Neu, launched exactly a week ago, had faced several delays before it was thrown open to the public. It had undergone testing internally involving Tata Group employees. Besides the existing brands on its super app, the Tatas plan to bring in other platforms such as Vistara, Air India, Titan, Tanishq, and Tata Motors to Tata Neu soon.

“Our aim is to ensure that Tata Neu becomes that super app that meets the demand of every Indian customer. The offering may come from the Tata stable or from the outside,” Chandrasekaran.

Stockal, a cross-border investment platform, has raised $9 million as part of its Series A round of funding.
Health and home-focused house-of-brands, Pratech Brands has raised $3 million from Sequoia’s programme for early-stage startups, Surge.
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for debugging and observability platform Zipy has raised $2.8 million in a seed round led by Blume Ventures and Together Fund.

Sequoia to harden compliance amid trouble in India, SE Asian portfolio✨

Sequoia Capital India called for some guard rails and governance in the startup ecosystem after its portfolio companies Trell, Zilingo, and BharatPe have come under investigation over some “deeply disturbing” allegations regarding financial and accounting irregularities.

Will continue to respond strongly when encountered with wilful misconduct or fraud: Sequoia India

Sequoia said it is committed to increasing compliance across its portfolio companies including, but not limited to, governance training for founders and senior management, implementation of whistleblower policies, more independent board representation, asking for more disclosures and more rigorous adoption of internal audits and controls.

“It is easy to think of this issue as ascribed to poor due diligence. But let’s remember that when investments are made at the seed or early stage there is hardly a business to diligence. Even at a later stage investors can face negative surprises, post-investment if there is willful fraud and intent,” it wrote.