The majority of the secondary financing of FirstCry is from NIIF and Premji, and a few other investors have also onboarded in this new funding round.
February 11, 2022
India’s sovereign wealth fund – the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) — has made its first bet on FirstCry, India’s largest e-commerce firm for newborns, baby, and kids products. NIIF led a USD 240-million secondary funding round in FirstCry, buying stock worth USD 100 million (INR 752.04 crore). The deal has been approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) as well.
In the new funding round, the Pune-based firm’s existing investor Premji Invest has also bought additional shares. Meanwhile, SoftBank has offloaded the largest portion of shares, according to the people who are aware of the proceedings. Besides, Chiratae Ventures and Newquest Capital Partners have also sold portions of their stocks in the company. After the funding, SoftBank will retain around 30 percent in FirstCry parent company – Brainbees Solutions.
Although the majority of the secondary financing is elicited from NIIF and Premji, another set of new investors has also joined the league in this round. Since it is a secondary transaction, the new investors only buy shares from existing investors and the capital has not been infused into the company.
Also Read: FirstCry Raises USD 315 Million by Private Equity Investors
Having a user base of over 4 million along with a retail footprint of more than 300 stores, FirstCry has its presence in 125 cities. The omnichannel platform has 200K mother, baby, and kids products across 2,000 brands.
