FirstCry, an India-based childcare e-commerce marketplace backed by corporate investors SoftBank and Mahindra Group, has raised $315m, Economic Times reported on Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the matter.
The round included venture capital firm Chrys Capital, investment firm PremjiInvest and private equity group TPG’s Growth fund, and valued the company at roughly $2bn. PremjiInvest provided $13m in primary funding, according to a regulatory filing seen by ET.
Early investors Elevation Capital (previously SAIF Partners), MegaDelta Capital Advisors and Vertex Partners exited FirstCry in the deal, having sold their stakes for a total of $300m to the three new investors in equal portions.
Founded in 2010, FirstCry runs an e-commerce platform that lists baby-focused items such as clothes, footwear and toys, as well as some 300 offline retail stores across 125 Indian cities. The company has more than 4 million users and products spanning more than 2,000 brands.
One of the sources told ET: “This round helps the company consolidate its investor base ahead of the [initial public offering] that it plans over the next 18 to 24 months.”
Internet and telecommunications group SoftBank’s Vision Fund provided $150m in February 2020 to lift FirstCry’s series E round to $300m, after backing a $150m close the year before. Vision Fund intended to inject an additional $100m in January 2021 but it is unclear whether the plan came to fruition.
The company had previously secured roughly $425m in total, having received $34m in a 2016 round featuring conglomerate Mahindra Group, Adveq, private investor Kris Gopalakrishnan and returning backers Chiratae Ventures (then IDG Ventures India), New Enterprise Associates, SAIF Partners, Valiant Capital and Vertex Ventures.
