Meesho is a Bengaluru-based company and a known e-commerce platform. This month Meesho was  in the news as they were looking to expand the size of its upcoming funding round. As of May 11,  Meesho has reportedly closed its first funding round at $275 million. According to an ET report, the US  Securities and Exchange Commission also disclosed a share transfer within Meesho’s US parent  company. Meesho has already closed the first round of funding with its existing investors and new  investors.  

The company is still finalizing its allocation for the rest of the round. This funding round comes a month  after Meesho was looking to expand the size of its upcoming funding round from previously set $300  Million to $500 million to $600 million. Meesho’s goal is to finalize this larger funding round and use  this amount in its expansion and innovation initiatives. The company was planning to increase the size  of its upcoming funding round, originally set at $300 million, to a range between $500 million and $650  million. Over the years, Meesho has demonstrated remarkable success in fundraising, gaining a total  of $1.36 billion in investments since its establishment in 2015. 

Image source: Meesho (official site) 

According to another report, Meesho is constantly growing while having a low monthly burn  significantly over the last year has drawn investors’ interest. The last peak valuation almost reached $5  billion. According to a person monitoring the deal closely, The board and investors suggested that the  company should focus more on raising primary capital for large-stage deals. As there will be a tax  payout in the future when it has to move domicile back to India for further IPO plans. The main idea is  not to use existing capital which is for operations and competitive reasons.  

Meesho raised the primary capital of $570 million in September 2021. One of the early investors of  Flipkart was also said to be participating in a funding round, which is still ongoing. According to another  report, Meesho is constantly growing while having a low monthly burn significantly over the last year  has drawn investors’ interest. The last peak valuation almost reached $5 billion. According to a person  monitoring the deal closely, The board and investors suggested that the company should focus more  on raising primary capital for large-stage deals. As there will be a tax payout in the future when it has  to move domicile back to India for further IPO plans. The main idea is not to use existing capital which  is for operations and competitive reasons.  

Meesho and Groww both are Y combinator alumni who raised initial capital through a US holding  company from Silicon Valley investors. Groww has completed moving the domicile back to India in March 2024. The company has to pay taxes in India or the US to reverse flip their holding companies  depending on the merger process. The total amount one needs for this whole process is very huge and  this is one of the main reasons behind Meesho raising primary capital. 

Conclusion: 

Meesho has successfully secured the first part of a larger financing round, closing at $275 million. The  Bengaluru-based company, known for competing with Amazon India and Flipkart, is currently in the  process of finalizing the details for the broader round, which could potentially value the company at  up to $3.9 billion. With both existing and new investors participating in this initial phase, Meesho is  still determining the allocation for the remaining funding round. This milestone follows Meesho’s  recent plans to expand the size of its funding round, indicating strong investor interest in the  company’s growth prospects. To date, Meesho has raised a total of $1.36 billion since its valuation in  2015.