Ecommerce startup Meesho raises $275M as part of larger round

Ecommerce startup Meesho raised $275 million in a funding round via primary and secondary share sales, a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed.

The fundraise is part of a bigger $500 million to $600 million round, which could value the company at $3.9 billion, according to media reports.

The US SEC filing, which showed share transfers from the company's US-based parent firm, did not specify any investors participating in the round. Meesho has raised over $1 billion to date and counts Meta, Elevation Capital, SoftBank, and Peak XV Partners as its investors.

According to The Economic Times, new investors are likely to join the $200 million follow-on round in the social ecommerce company.

Meesho did not immediately respond to queries sent by YourStory.

In January this year, US asset management company Fidelity Investments cut the valuation of its stake in Meesho by 33% to $3.5 billion. At the time, a Meesho spokesperson told YourStory that it could likely have been because of the "increase in the number of outstanding shares, especially due to the ESOP pool expansion."

Before Fidelity's valuation cut, investors and analysts had been upbeat about Meesho's operations, with research firm Bernstein saying it's one of the fastest-growing companies in India's ecommerce space.

Meesho has put up a formidable fight against ecommerce majors Amazon and Flipkart in India. last year, the startup said it was close to zero cash burn and on track to hit EBITDA breakeven.

The ecommerce space in India has also been facing competition from quick commerce startups that have started stocking products beyond the bare necessities, as well as from government-backed ONDC.

However, Meesho has held its own largely for its better-valued products in a price-conscious market.

Meesho's latest round and the follow on rounds could see exits from pre-Series A investors, according to the ET report, which added that Meta was approached to offload some of its stake in the startup.