Bengaluru-based home furnishing company Urban Ladder plans to tap primary markets by 2020 after turning profitable by financial year (FY) 2019. The company plans to expand its network of physical stores in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru, apart from strengthening its product portfolio. Urban Ladder currently operates five physical outlets – one in Gurugram and four in Bengaluru and plans to take the figure to 15 in the two cities before launching its maiden public offer. Urban Ladder IPO may see some of its existing shareholders exiting the company through an Offer For Sale (OFS).
“We are expecting a touch and go zone in April-June quarter and hope to be profitable by July-September quarter in Bangalore city, which is our primary place of business and a large part of our business. Our next financial year will be a profitable one (overall) which will be churning cash financially”
– Ashish Goel, co-founder and CEO, Urban Ladder
On the question if the company will raise additional funds before tapping the IPO market, Goel told the Press Trust of India (PTI) that the company is well-funded for another 18 months. Nevertheless, it will start raising funds during the later-half of the year, if required. “(We will, if need be, raise) up to maximum of 20 million which is going to be among series E of raising funds,” said Goel.
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So far, the company has raised over USD100 million from Sequoia Capital, SAIF Partners, Kalaari Capital and Steadview Capital. Urban Ladder also counts Ratan Tata among its investors.
Urban Ladder IPO: Operations far from profitable but situation improving
According to the documents filed with the Corporate Affairs Ministry, Urban Ladder posted a loss of INR154.9 crore (INR1.55 billion) for the year ended March 2017 which is higher than the consolidated revenues of INR94.5 crore it posted for the year. However, these figures mark an improvement from a loss of INR181.6 crore in FY2016 on a topline of just INR55.7 crore.
Losses still more than sales…Not good!!