on Feb 09, 2021)BENGALURU: SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said he is expecting a “rhythm” of 10-20 initial public offerings (IPOs) a year from his portfolio companies globally. He described Soft-Bank as the “goose” giving “golden eggs”.
Son did not give names of the companies. But sources aware of the matter said at least two Indian companies backed by SoftBank’s Vision Fund (SVF) are aiming for an IPO this year. These include financial services platform PolicyBazaar parent EtechAces Marketing & Consulting, and logistics firm Delhivery. EtechAces is working with Morgan Stanley and Kotak Mahindra Capital for a $500-million fund-raise at a valuation of $3.5-4 billion SoftBank, one of the biggest backers of Indian startups, has 131 companies across its two Vision Funds. Some of its other portfolio companies in India are also in talks to conduct sizable secondary transactions in their run-up to an IPO in two years, three sources added. “Policy-Bazaar is targeting the last quarter of calendar year 2021 for its IPO, while Delhivery is also working on it seriously,” one of the persons said. Soft-Bank owns around 15% and 25% in EtechAces and Delhivery, respectively.
After a record profit of $8 billion in the December quarter, Son said, “I want to have that kind of rhythm to list 10 or 20 companies per year. So we are going to a harvesting period from SoftBank Vision Fund 1 perspective and even from Vision Fund 2 perspective we have some sort of harvesting.”
This was largely aided by its holdings getting a boost in Uber and US food delivery firm DoorDash, which recently went public. Soft-Bank’s $680-million investment in DoorDash is now valued at almost $9 billion, while the $7.6-billion investment in Uber is valued at $11.3 billion.
When contacted, spokespersons of SoftBank India, PolicyBazaar, and Delhivery declined to comment.
PolicyBazaar’s other investors include Tencent, Temasek, and Info Edge. Delhivery has raised capital from Carlyle Group, Canadian pension fund CPPIB, and Tiger Global. Earlier this year, Steadview Capital invested $25 million in Delhivery through a secondary share sale.
