Boat gets shareholder approval for IPO, to seek regulator’s nod

India’s largest wearables brand, Boat, is set to file the draft prospectus for an initial public offering with the markets regulator, after it received shareholders’ approval to go ahead with the IPO plan. This will be its second attempt to go public after having scrapped the first bid in 2022.

According to filings made with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), shareholders of the brand’s parent firm, Imagine Marketing, approved a special resolution allowing the company to make an IPO, which will include raising Rs 500 crore by selling fresh shares.

The Fireside Ventures-backed company will file its draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) through the regulator’s confidential filing route, as per its RoC filings. Food and grocery delivery platform Swiggy, which listed in November last year, also took Sebi’s pre-filing route for its IPO.

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According to sources, Boat is looking to raise Rs 2,000-2,500 crore, including a secondary sale of shares by its existing shareholders, but the final number could be based on market conditions and the company’s financials.

Boat did not respond to an email seeking comment.

ET had reported in November that the Gurgaon-based firm had appointed ICICI Securities, Goldman Sachs and Nomura as bankers for its IPO, which it is targeting for fiscal year 2026.

In 2022, Boat had filed draft IPO papers for a Rs 2,000 crore offering, which included Rs 900 crore in a primary capital and Rs 1,100 crore of secondary offering by private equity firm Warburg Pincus.

Boat’s last capital raise was a $60 million round through convertible preferred stock from existing investor Warburg Pincus and new investor Malabar Investments at a minimum valuation cap of around $1.2 billion.

The company’s IPO plans are moving ahead at a time when the broader equity markets seem to have entered a correction phase. ET reported on Tuesday that 20 new-age companies and startups are in various stages of their plans to go public, but the market situation could make them relook their timelines.

Over the past year, Boat’s business has come under pressure on account of a consumption slowdown in the economy that has affected the wearables segment, particularly smartwatches.

In fiscal 2024, Boat’s operating revenue fell 5% to Rs 3,285 crore, even as it significantly reduced its loss to Rs 70.8 crore.

According to research firm IDC, Boat is the biggest wearables company in India, with a market share of 25.7% during the October-December 2024 quarter. In the wireless earphones segment, the company had a 30.5% share in the quarter.

India's wearable device market declined for the first time in 2024, by 11.3%, with smartwatch shipments falling sharply by 34.4%, and the earwear segment recording modest growth of 3.8%, per IDC.