Indian portfolio firms Swiggy, Lenskart, FirstCry, OfBusiness preparing to go public soon: SoftBank’s Navneet Govil

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Swiggy, eyewear brand Lenskart, omni-channel retailer FirstCry and business-to-business commerce startup OfBusiness, are readying to tap the public markets, said Navneet Govil, managing partner and chief financial officer at SoftBank Vision Fund. These startups are at various stages of preparing for their initial public offering with companies like FirstCry expected to file their draft IPO papers by the end of 2023, Govil told ET in an interview Tuesday.

Speaking after SoftBank reported its quarterly results, Govil said 93% of the Japanese group’s portfolio comprising 473 firms boast a positive cash runway of more than 12 months amid a broader correction that has hit the global technology world leading to widespread downsizing across the sector. SoftBank's Vision Fund, which swung to a profit after six straight quarters of losses, said it will begin investing after a prolonged period of inactivity, even as the SoftBank group logged $3 billion in net loss.

“We have two-thirds of the portfolio that's already generating cash or will be generating cash without the need for incremental capital… One-fourth of the portfolio is showing top-line growth of more than 50% while 40% of the portfolio clocked top-line growth of more than 25% in this market…,” Govil said, while speaking about the state of play at the Vision Fund. SoftBank, which was among the leading investors to deploy capital in the 2021 boom period, has seen many portfolio firms go bust or shut down, including San Francisco-based social app IRL.

SoftBank is suing IRL’s former CEO Abraham Shafi and his family members for allegedly defrauding the investment firm. “The companies that aren't going to do well are those that have already been identified and have been