E-commerce

Honasa’s IPO hardsell

Bhumika Khatri

January 05, 2023 | 8 Min Read

After numerous startups shelved their listing plans, Honasa—the parent company of D2C brand Mamaearth—has decided to test the public market waters. With a pitch centred around an omnichannel, house of brands approach, will Honasa’s story resonate with investors?

As 2022 wound to a close, beauty and personal care (BPC) company Honasa Consumer Ltd, the parent entity of Mamaearth, filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

According to the company’s filings, Honasa plans to issue fresh shares worth Rs 400 crore. In addition, many of its existing shareholders will partially exit the company, selling a total of 46.82 million shares.

The move is significant for a number of reasons. For starters, Honasa is going public despite the prevailing funding winter, gloomy global economic forecasts, and the struggles of other Indian startups post-listing.

Beyond this, its listing would mark the coming of age of India’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) space, which is yet to see a company follow through on plans to go public. If the IPO were to materialise, the seven-year-old firm would also become one of the youngest Indian startups to go public.

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