Ahead of IPO, Urban Company mobilises Rs 854 crore from anchor investors

New Delhi: Urban Company, the app-based beauty and home services platform, on Tuesday raised Rs 854 crore from anchor investors, a day before its initial share-sale opening for public subscription.

A host of domestic and foreign institutions participated in the anchor round, including Government Pension Fund Global, Nomura Funds Ireland Public Limited Company, Fidelity Funds, Florida Retirement System, Allspring Global Investments LLC (EMSC), Theleme India Master Fund Ltd and Amundi Funds New Silk Road, according to a circular uploaded on BSE's website.

Also, Nippon India Mutual Fund (MF), Aditya Birla Sun Life MF, ICICI Prudential MF, SBI MF, SBI Life Insurance Company and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company invested in the anchor round.

As per the circular, the company has allocated 8.29 crore equity shares at Rs 103 per apiece to anchor investors comprising 59 funds. This takes the fundraising to Rs 854 crore.

The company's Rs 1,900-crore initial public offering (IPO) will be open for subscription during September 10-12 in the price band of Rs 98 to Rs 103 per share.

At the upper end of the price band, the company's valuation is pegged at Rs 14,790 crore.

The Gurugram-based company plans to raise Rs 472 crore through selling new shares, and existing investors plan to sell stakes worth Rs 1,428 crore.

Those selling shares under the offer for sale (OFS) route are Accel India and Elevation Capital, Bessemer India Capital Holdings II Ltd, Internet Fund V Pte Ltd and VYC11 Ltd.

The company plans to use funds raised through the fresh issuance for new technology development and cloud infrastructure, lease payments for its offices, marketing activities, and general corporate purposes.

Urban Company operates a technology-driven, full-stack online marketplace for quality-driven services and solutions across various home and beauty categories. Apart from India, it has a presence in the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Its platform enables consumers to easily order services, including cleaning, pest control, electrician, plumbing, carpentry, appliance servicing and repair, painting, skincare, hair grooming and massage therapy. These services are delivered by trained and independent service professionals at the consumers' convenience.

The company said that 75 per cent of the issue size has been reserved for qualified institutional buyers, 15 per cent for non-institutional investors and the remaining 10 per cent for retail investors.

Further, investors can bid for one lot of 145 shares and then in multiples of 145 thereafter.

Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, Morgan Stanley India Company, Goldman Sachs (India) Securities and JM Financial are the book-running lead managers to the issue. Urban Company is expected to make its stock market debut on September 17.