BENGALURU/MUMBAI: Discount stock brokerage platform Groww is charting a course for a IPO within the next 12 months, aiming for a valuation between $6-8 billion, sources told TOI. The Bengaluru-based fintech startup is meeting merchant bankers in the next couple of weeks who would take the company public.
Groww plans to raise $600-800 million through the offering, with issue of new shares and offers for sale by existing shareholders split nearly equally, sources said. The proposed IPO is anticipated to be one of the largest in the sector.
The move comes against the backdrop of significant regulatory changes in India’s derivatives trading space, a core revenue generator for most of the discount broking firms. Sensing that trading in the futures & options segment by retail investors not fully aware of the vagaries of the space, which in turn is leading to huge losses, markets regulator Sebi has changed rules that’s already affecting revenues of bourses and brokers.
Recently, Nithin Kamath, founder & CEO, Zerodha, the discount broking pioneer in India and Groww’s nearest competitor in terms of active clients, had said that the new Sebi rules for F&O trading could erode its revenues by up to 50%. Groww plans to file its IPO prospectus with Sebi in the next few months and expects to get listed before the end of the year, sources said.
