Indian e-commerce startup Meesho posts first-ever profit, plans IPO in 12-18 months

BENGALURU, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Indian e-commerce startup Meesho has posted its first-ever profit and is targeting a stock market listing in the next 12-18 months, a senior company executive said in an interview.

Meesho competes with Amazon and Walmarts Flipkart in Indias fast-growing e-commerce market, with its website becoming popular by targeting smaller towns and cities with unbranded products like clothes and cosmetics. It was last valued at nearly $7 billion, PitchBook data shows.

After posting losses since inception in 2015, Meesho, which is backed by Japans SoftBank (9984.T), recorded profits for the first time last month, it said in a statement.

Its revenue between January-June was more than $400 million, and Meesho expects it to cross $800 million by the year end, Chief Financial officer Dhiresh Bansal told Reuters on Friday.

“Since we just turned from negative to positive, its a small nominal kind of number, single digit of course... We intend to continue the profitability trajectory,\” he said without sharing specifics.

An initial public offering (IPO) is now being planned in the next 12-18 months, Bansal added.

“We feel that the growth, scale and profitability are there (for an IPO), but you also want to make sure that there is enough of a track record for market investors to look at.\”

Meesho, which was founded by Indian Institute of Technology graduates Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, clocked more than 1 billion orders in the last 12 months.

Meeshos first profit comes at a time when Indian startups have been struggling to raise funds due to a funding squeeze worsened by higher interest rates and a global tech market rout. Many Indian startups have fired thousands of employees and cut costs aggressively in recent months.

Last week, Indian food delivery giant Zomato (ZOMT.NS) also posted its first-ever profit.