Unpacking Peak XV Partners’ exit from Go Fashion

Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital (now Peak XV Partners) has sold its remaining stake in Go Fashion, the parent of Indian clothing brand Go Colors, for Rs 625 crore.

Sequoia Capital through its affiliate Sequoia Capital India Investments IV sold its last lot of 54,98,975 shares in Go Fashion at a price of Rs 1136.1 per share in a bulk sale as of 12th June 2023, according to the filing extracted from the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

While Go Fashion did not disclose the timeline of offloading of shares by Sequoia, Entrackr has sifted through the company’s filings to get the exact details. Go Fashion went public in November 2021 with a total cap of 5,21,97,150 equity shares including the bonus shares allotted to existing shareholders. Sequoia held 1,49,97,750 equity shares (after conversion from Series A) which formed 28.73% of the capital.

At the event of the initial public offer(IPO), Sequoia made its first exit by selling 50% of its share i.e 74,98,875 equity shares (offer for sale) at a price of Rs 690 per share amounting to Rs 517 crore.

After completing a year of lock-in period from the date of listing, the venture capital sold another lot of 20,00,000 equity shares in December at a price of Rs 1140.14 per share amounting to Rs 228 crore.

In total, Sequoia has made nearly 22.8X return amounting to Rs 1,370 crore after fully exiting from the company. The venture capital invested Rs 60 crore ($10 million) in Go Fashion in December 2014.

Over the past couple of years, Sequoia has made partial exits from the likes of Zomato and Pine Labs while it fully exited Vini Cosmetics with a hefty return.

The development comes soon after the rebranding of Sequoia India and Southeast Asia to Peak XV Partners. The Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm will split into three separate firms which will focus on its key markets – the US and Europe, China, and India and Southeast Asia.

Founded by Prakash, Rahul and Gautam Saraogi, Chennai-based Go Fashion is engaged in the development, design, sourcing, marketing and retailing a range of women’s bottom-wear products under the brand Go Colors. Go Fashion's revenue from operations grew 66% to Rs 665 crore in FY23 as compared to Rs 401 crore in FY22.

As per the company's annual financial statement with the NSE, its profits also surged along with scale by 133% to Rs 82.8 crore in FY23 from Rs 35.6 crore in FY22.