Retail investors push Meesho's $604 mn IPO to full subscription

By Reuters

  • 03 Dec 2025
Products are lined in front of the logo of Meesho Limited, an e-commerce marketplace, during its IPO announcement press conference, in Mumbai, India, November 28, 2025. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

Meesho's $604 million initial public offering was fully subscribed the first day of bidding on Wednesday as retail investors rushed to grab a share of the Indian e-commerce platform amid a booming IPO market.

The company, which is seeking a valuation of up to $5.6 billion, received bids for 429.13 million shares as of 3:32 p.m. IST, against the 277.94 million shares on offer, exchange data showed.

Retail investors bid for 173.64 million shares, more than three-fold the 51.03 million shares set aside for them.

Meesho's listing is the latest in the line of IPOs from technology-driven companies like Groww, Lenskart and PhysicsWallah taking advantage of a booming primary market.

More than 300 IPOs have raised $19.26 billion in India so far this year, setting the stage for 2025 to be a record year for IPO fundraising, LSEG data showed.

"We believe Meesho's asset-light model, zero-commission structure for sellers and disciplined cost optimisation have enabled rapid user and order growth while steadily improving unit economics," said Rajan Shinde, research analyst at Mehta Equities.

Backed by Softbank and Peak XV Partners, Meesho has already raised about $270 million from anchor investors such as SBI Innovative Opportunities Fund and Government of Singapore ahead of the public launch of its IPO. The offering closes on December 5.

Non-institutional investors bid for 1.38 times the number of shares on offer for them, and the portion set aside for qualified institutional buyers was also fully subscribed.

Meesho's revenue rose 29.4% to 55.78 billion rupees ($622.96 million) in the first half of fiscal 2026, and its losses narrowed 72.1% to 7 billion rupees, according to its IPO prospectus.

"While strong scale momentum supports the growth narrative, near-term profitability remains volatile," Angel One said.