Flipkart, the e-commerce company valued at $36 billion, is reportedly preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) within the next 12-15 months. The proposed listing, expected to be the most significant share issue by a new-economy company, would be a landmark event for India’s startup sector, which is now the third largest in the world.
The Walmart-owned company has received internal approval to relocate its domicile from Singapore to India, seen as a key step toward the IPO, according to a report by The Economic Times citing multiple sources.
Flipkart aims to launch the public offering by the end of the next calendar year or within the first quarter of 2026, sources told ET. “The process has begun, and there is clear understanding that in this timeline, the company should be public,” one of the sources said in the report.
Flipkart's India IPO is set to lead a wave of about a dozen new-age companies preparing to go public in 2025. This comes after the successful listings of several consumer internet firms, including Zomato, Nykaa, and Swiggy, which have sparked growing interest among retail investors in Indian startups.
The online commerce giant has raised nearly $1 billion in funding this year, including $350 million from Google. Flipkart has been discussing plans for an IPO since late 2021, but these talks were paused due to challenging market conditions in 2022-23. However, the recent surge in IPOs by consumer firms in India has reignited interest in a public share offering for the Bengaluru-based company, sources revealed. This move was also part of the agreement when Walmart acquired a majority stake in Flipkart in 2018.
"Global peers like South Korea’s Coupang have made a strong recovery in public markets in the last year or so, setting the stage for e-commerce valuation multiples," said another source in the report. They noted that Indian public markets have been rewarding large internet businesses that show growth and a clear path to profitability.