Pune-based Brainbees Solutions Pvt. Ltd, which operates online baby products retailer FirstCry, is reportedly in talks to raise Rs 666 crore ($101 million) from multiple investors, including Singapore's state investment firm Temasek Holdings.
The company is looking to raise this sum at a valuation of $400-500 million, The Economic Times reported. In its last funding round in October 2016, FirstCry was reportedly valued at $300-350 million.
The round will likely see secondary transactions to purchase stockholdings from existing investors, the report added citing people familiar with the matter.
Temasek already has an indirect exposure to the company through its venture capital subsidiary Vertex Venture Holdings, and venture debt arm Innoven Capital.
FirstCry last raised $34 million (Rs 226 crore then) in October 2016 from the Mahindra Group, Switzerland-based private equity fund Adveq, Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan and existing investors including IDG Ventures India. At that point, it had acquired Mahindra & Mahindra's babycare business BabyOye in a cash-and-stock deal worth Rs 362.1 crore ($54.3 million).
E-mail queries sent to FirstCry co-founders Supam Maheshwari and Amitava Saha, Temasek and Vertex Venture Holdings did not elicit an immediate response.
FirstCry is the best-funded baby products e-tailer in India, having raised a little over $125 million from a bevy of investors including IDG, Valiant Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates and SAIF Partners, among others. In January, Tata Sons' chairman emeritus Ratan Tata invested in FirstCry.
The company has emerged as a strong player in the segment even as competitors like Hushbabies shut shop. In January, VCCircle reported that FirstCry was in talks with parenting platform mycity4kids for an acquisition.
Other funded players in the broader mom-and-baby care space include Hopscotch, which has raised about $26 million from the likes of Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, US-based Rise Capital, Middle East-based Jabbar Internet Group, Singapore-based Lionrock Capital and Skype co-founder Toivo Annus. In April, media reports said it was in talks to raise $20 million in a fresh round of funding.
