Fintech company Razorpay has confidentially filed its draft red herring prospectus with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India and the stock exchanges, formally kicking off its initial public offering (IPO) process.
The confidential route allows companies to file their draft IPO documents without immediately making financial and business details public. Doing so lets them test regulatory feedback before public disclosure.
The Bengaluru-based payments company made the disclosure through a newspaper advertisement on Monday, saying the pre-filed DRHP was dated June 12. Last week, Razorpay received shareholders' approval to raise Rs 2,700 crore ($280-285 million) in fresh funding through IPO besides an offer-for-sale.
Eyeing $600-700 million raise
ET had reported in April that Razorpay was preparing to file confidentially for an IPO and was looking to raise $600-700 million (Rs 5,700-6,650 crore), with the expected valuation pegged at $5-6 billion. That would be lower than the $7.5 billion valuation at which the company was last valued in the private market more than four years ago.
Razorpay counts YCombinator, Peak XV Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Tiger Global and GIC among others as its backers.
The confidential route allows companies to file draft IPO documents with Sebi without immediately making detailed financial and business disclosures public. Several new-age companies, including Swiggy , Groww , Meesho and Zepto , have taken this route in recent years, as companies look to test regulatory and investor feedback before public disclosure.
Razorpay’s IPO filing comes after the company completed the reverse flip of its domicile from the US to India last year, following approvals from the Reserve Bank of India and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The move was a key step in its plan to list in India. The company had also converted into a public limited company ahead of the proposed listing.
Founded by Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar, Razorpay offers online, offline and cross-border payment services, and also runs RazorpayX, its business banking platform. The company processes around $180 billion in annual transactions and has been looking to grow higher-margin businesses such as cross-border payments and services for global merchants selling into India.
In FY25, Razorpay’s revenue rose 65% to Rs 3,783 crore , while gross profit increased 41% to Rs 1,277 crore. However, it reported a net loss of Rs 1,209 crore, largely due to employee stock ownership expenses, restructuring costs and tax payments related to its shift back to India.
Ahead of the IPO, Razorpay has also been sharpening its operating focus. ET reported last month that the company had scaled back its aggressive offline payments expansion and was instead focusing on merchants needing both online and offline payment solutions, in line with its push toward a more profitable core business.
