Imagine Marketing Limited, the parent company of India’s leading wearables brand boAt, has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to launch its long-awaited ₹1,500-crore initial public offering (IPO).
According to the updated draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) filed on October 29, the IPO will consist of:
Fresh issue: ₹500 crore
Offer for Sale (OFS): ₹1,000 crore by existing investors
The OFS will include:
₹75 crore by Sameer Ashok Mehta
₹225 crore by Aman Gupta
₹500 crore by South Lake Investment Limited (Promoter Selling Shareholder)
₹150 crore by Fireside Ventures Investment Fund-I
₹50 crore by Qualcomm Ventures LLC
The company plans to utilize the fresh issue proceeds for:
₹225 crore – Funding working capital requirements
₹150 crore – Brand and marketing expenses to enhance product visibility
Remaining amount – General corporate purposes
This marks boAt’s second IPO attempt. The company had earlier filed for a ₹2,000-crore IPO in January 2022, which included a fresh issue of ₹900 crore and an OFS of ₹1,100 crore. However, it deferred the plan due to volatile market conditions and opted for the confidential pre-filing route in April 2025, gaining SEBI’s approval by August.
The confidential filing mechanism allowed the company to submit draft documents privately and make public disclosures only at a later stage — a flexible route increasingly preferred by large startups.
After posting two consecutive years of losses, boAt barely returned to profitability in FY25, with a net profit of just ₹61 crore — a modest recovery from a loss of ₹53 crore in FY24 and ₹129 crore in FY23.
However, a closer look reveals stagnation at the topline.
Revenue has been largely flat for three years, inching down from ₹3,377 crore in FY23 to ₹3,073 crore in FY25 — indicating a slowdown in growth momentum.
Within its segments, the performance gap is striking:
The audio accessories division, still the company’s mainstay, managed only a 10% revenue growth — from ₹2,351 crore in FY23 to ₹2,586 crore in FY25.
The wearables business, once a key growth driver, collapsed by nearly 58%, with sales plunging from ₹783 crore in FY23 to just ₹330 crore in FY25.
While boAt has made attempts to diversify into personal grooming and mobile accessories, these categories are yet to contribute meaningfully to overall revenues.
In short, the company’s financials depict a stagnant topline, falling market share, and shrinking growth opportunities — raising serious questions about the sustainability of its current valuation.
Founded in 2013 by Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta, Imagine Marketing Ltd has built boAt into one of India’s most recognizable lifestyle electronics brands. Its portfolio spans:
Audio gear: Earphones, headphones, speakers
Smart wearables: Smartwatches and fitness trackers
Personal grooming products
Mobile accessories
The company has effectively combined youth-focused branding, competitive pricing, and digital marketing to maintain a leading position in India’s consumer electronics space.
The IPO will be managed by:
ICICI Securities
Goldman Sachs (India) Securities
JM Financial
Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India) Pvt Ltd
boAt is planning a ₹1,500 crore IPO — comprising ₹1,000 crore of Offer for Sale (OFS) and ₹500 crore of fresh issue.
Promoters will partially exit through the OFS route.
However, when we look at fundamentals, the picture isn’t exciting. Over the last three years, boAt’s topline has shown almost no growth, and its key category — wearables — has been consistently losing market share.
In audio too, competition from Noise, Fire-Boltt, and other aggressive brands has intensified, eroding boAt’s earlier dominance.
At its core, boAt has always been a trading business — importing products from China and selling them via Amazon and Flipkart. There’s no strong brand moat or proprietary technology to protect margins.
The last fundraise valued the company at ₹10,000 crore, but with FY25 PAT around ₹60 crore, that implies a P/E of ~166x, which is steep for a business showing zero growth and rising competition.
In our view, the fair valuation lies closer to ₹3,000–4,000 crore, unless the company demonstrates a clear turnaround in growth, profitability, and product differentiation.
UnlistedZone is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or Investment Advisor. All information provided on our platform is strictly for educational and informational purposes. We do not offer investment advice or stock recommendations. Investors are advised to conduct their own due diligence or consult a SEBI-registered advisor. Investments in unlisted and pre-IPO shares are subject to market risks including illiquidity and volatility. UnlistedZone does not assure any returns or accept liability for investment outcomes based on this report.
