Awfis, TBO receive final nod from SEBI for IPO

Co-working solutions provider Awfis has received the final nod from securities and exchange board of India (SEBI) for its initial public offering (IPO), the market watchdog notified on Tuesday.

The Delhi-based firm had filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI for IPO in December last year.

The firm had proposed to raise funds through a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 160 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 10,023,172 equity shares. As per the company, the funds will be utilised for funding capital expenditure towards the establishment of new centers, working capital requirements, and general corporate purposes.

Nine-year-old Awfis has raised close to $100 million to date, according to data intelligence platform TheKredible. As of the last funding round in December 2022, Bisque Ltd controls the largest holding with a 23.47% stake followed by Peak XV which holds 22.86%. Awfis founder and CEO Amit Ramani commands 18.19% of the company at the moment.

The DRHP also mentioned that Peak XV Partners will divest 5,011,586 equity shares or more than 37% of its holding in the co-working chain.

Awfis’s revenue from operations soared 2.1X to Rs 545 crore during the fiscal year ending March 2023 when compared to Rs 257 crore in FY22. The firm managed to control its losses by 18.67% to Rs 46.6 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2023.

Along with Awfis, travel tech firm TBO (Travel Boutique Online) has also received a green signal on Tuesday from the market regulator to float its IPO. The offering comprises a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 400 crore and an offer for sale of 1.56 crore equity shares by promoters and investors

As per its DRHP, Lap Travel controls the largest holding in the firm with 25% stake followed by Augusta TBO which has 24% stake. Co-founders Gaurav Bhatnagar and Manish Dhingra control 20% and 5.6% stake respectively. Both will participate in the offer for sale in the upcoming IPO.

TBO demonstrated strong financial growth in FY23 and its revenue from operations grew 117% to Rs 1,051 crore. The company’s profit also increased more than 300% Rs 137 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2023.

Awfis and TBO were among the bunch of tech companies that filed DRHP during the November-January period. FirstCry, Ola Electric, MobiKwik and Unicommerce also joined the list. However, only half of them – TBO, MobiKwik and Unicommerce emerged as profitable in their last reported financials.