Imagine Marketing, the parent company of consumer electronics brand boAt, said that it had secured Rs 500 crore from its existing shareholder South Lake Investment, a Warburg Pincus subsidiary, and a new investment in Malabar Investments.
The fresh capital will be used to grow the company’s smartwatch product range, improve R&D and design capabilities, scale the business across channels and geographies, including outside of India, and support domestic manufacturing plans. The company ventured into the smartwatch sector a few years ago.
Previously, the majority of boAt’s products were manufactured in China; however, the company is currently aiming to diversify its production footprint and has formed a joint venture with Dixon. The company indicated that a substantial percentage of its production has already been shifted to India, where it produces around one million devices each month.
“In our core personal audio area, we have developed solid leadership, and we are the world’s number two earwear player. It brings me great joy that an Indian-born brand is now regarded as one of the world’s top brands. We now want to make smartwatches our second core and will reinvent the boAt digital strategy to become global leaders in this industry as well,” said Aman Gupta, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at boAt.
“We will be able to invest significantly in disrupting the smartwatch markets with more innovative gadgets with the increased financing.” And we are thrilled that investors continue to have faith in the boAt story.”
The company filed draft filings with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) earlier this year for a Rs 2,000 crore initial public offering (IPO). However, the company’s aspirations to go public have been formally abandoned.
According to a person who confirmed an online media platform for entrepreneurs, startups, and technology enthusiasts, the company was authorized to raise Rs 180 crore prior to its IPO, but the company has secured more than Rs 500 crore of equity, therefore it proactively withdrew its DRHP. The company is anticipated to reconsider its IPO plans within the next 12-18 months.
boAt announced net revenue of about Rs 3,000 crore for the fiscal year ending March 30, 2022, representing a year-on-year increase of more than 100 percent. The firm is also profitable. In April 2021, Qualcomm Ventures paid an undisclosed sum to boAt. A year ago, it raised $735 million from Warburg Pincus.
Furthermore, the company is growing its production capabilities through collaborations with numerous renowned electronic manufacturing services (EMS) providers in India, including Dixon, with whom it has also formed a manufacturing joint venture. It also intends to expand its audio category, improve its research and design capabilities, and expand its domestic manufacturing.
It has previously reached comparable collaborations with leading global companies like Qualcomm (a boAt shareholder), Dolby, and Dirac to supply higher-quality items at a reduced cost.
About boAt
boAt is an audio equipment manufacturer formed by Imagine Marketing Limited. Its headquarters are in the Indian city of Delhi. Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta established the company in 2014. The company began as an Amazon India-focused E-commerce brand prior to developing its own platform. Chinese items are being banned in India as anti-China sentiment grows ahead of the 2021 China-India hostilities.
The company said that its things were previously manufactured in China and are now manufactured in India, therefore it suffered no losses as a result of anti-China prejudice. The manufacturing shift was based on the Indian government’s Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Wearables, according to the business.
In order to move away from China, the company forged a relationship with electronics firm Dixon Technologies to manufacture its wireless audio products in the United States.
Also Read : Meta market value collapsed by $677 billion this year, whopping 25% today
181 total views, 1 views today