InMobi Ropes In Four Bankers To Helm Its $1 Bn IPO

InMobi’s initial public offering (IPO) is back on track. The SoftBank-backed adtech unicorn has now reportedly appointed four merchant bankers to helm its upcoming $1 Bn (₹9,634 Cr) public issue.

Sources told Bloomberg that the startup has roped in JPMorgan Chase & Co., Jefferies, Kotak Mahindra Capital and Axis Capital to oversee its IPO. According to the report, InMobi is set to kick off its IPO proceedings later this week, and is eyeing a listing in the “next few” months. 

However, the IPO size is yet to be finalised as discussions with bankers are still underway. As such, the plans are still not final and could still change. 

This comes a year after Inc42 exclusively reported that InMobi was targeting a more than $1 Bn IPO, with a valuation of $8 Bn to $10 Bn. Subsequent reports noted that the unicorn was seeking a valuation of up to $6 Bn for its public issue. 

Currently, InMobi is in the process of shifting its domicile to India from Singapore. 

Founded in 2007 by Naveen Tewari, Piyush Shah, Mohit Saxena, and Abhay Singhal, InMobi provides marketing and monetisation solutions to brands, advertisers, and publishers. In 2019, it diversified its business with the launch of Glance, an AI-based unicorn that operates an Android lockscreen platform.

The SaaS platform has so far raised more than $320 Mn from marquee names such as Sherpalo Ventures, SoftBank, Kleiner Perkins, and others. It emerged as one of India’s earliest unicorns back in 2011.

Ahead of its potential listing in 2025, the adtech unicorn’s three cofounders – Tewari, Singhal and Shah – bought back around 25-30% stake in InMobi from early backer SoftBank. Following the buyback, the trio’s cumulative shareholding in the unicorn stood at around 60%.

Afterwards in May this year, it also acquired San Francisco-based mobile app marketing and analytics platform MobileAction for an undisclosed amount.

Notably, this is not the first time that the startup is gearing up for a D-Street debut. In 2021, it was reportedly planning for an IPO but shelved the plans due to adverse market conditions and funding winter. Subsequently in 2024 and 2025, reports once again surfaced that it was eyeing a listing on the bourses, but the plan did not materialise. 

The development comes at a time when a growing number of new-age tech companies are making a beeline for the bourses. Last week, travel tech giant MakeMyTrip filed its DRHP with SEBI via the confidential pre-filing route for the IPO of its India subsidiary.

Earlier this month, fitness unicorn Cult.fit also filed its draft IPO papers with SEBI for a public issue, which will comprise a fresh issue worth up to ₹950 Cr and an offer-for-sale of up to 17.86 Cr shares.

In June, OYO parent PRISM also submitted its updated DRHP for an IPO, which will consist solely of a fresh issue worth ₹6,650 Cr.

Overall, seven startups have made their D-Street debut so far this year, while twenty eight others have already filed their DRHPs with SEBI.

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