OfBusiness has witnessed a secondary share sale of roughly $100-120 million, with early backer Zodius Capital exiting completely from the business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce firm, according to sources familiar with the situation.
This would likely be the second largest secondary transaction in the new-age industry this year, following a $200 million share sale in Lenskart.
Zodius Capital has made more than $100 million in returns on its initial $8 million investment in OfBusiness in late 2016, according to Gautam Patel, cofounder of the venture capital fund, who confirmed the exit. He is also the founder and managing partner of venture capital firm Z3Partners.
Zodius made its initial investment in OfBusiness at a $50 million valuation. Avendus Capital, which is backed by KKR, acquired Zodius in 2017.
"Over the last few months, Zodius has completely left OfBusiness. This is one of the most significant benefits they have derived from an early investment," according to a person familiar with the situation.
According to accounts, a group of high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) and family offices purchased the majority of Zodius' stock.
Z47 (previously Matrix India Partners), an early investor in SoftBank-backed OfBusiness, is also looking to sell a share valued between $50 and $60 million, according to sources.
According to Tracxn data, the venture fund, which owns a 0.8% share, is in talks with a number of secondary-focused funds, including TR Capital and Oister Tribe Ace Fund, about selling a stake in the Gurgaon-based startup, which wants to go public next year.
Z47 is also looking to sell holdings in several of its portfolio companies, including fintech Razorpay, mobility startup Ola, and content aggregation platform Dailyhunt, as first reported by ET on October 10.
The newest agreement for OfBusiness, which was previously estimated at $5 billion, was negotiated at a valuation of roughly $4 billion, while the valuation for the Z47 transaction may rise slightly when the details are finalized, according to one of the parties involved.
OfBusiness' CEO, Asish Mohapatra, declined to comment on the secondary share sale. Z47, TR Capital, and Oister Tribe Ace Fund did not respond to queries for comment.
Oister Tribe Ace Fund is a recently established secondary deal-focused fund formed by Oister Global, which has backed private market funds in venture capital, growth equity, and private equity, and the India arm of Silicon Valley VC firm Tribe Capital, which has invested in fintech Jar, logistics startup Shiprocket, and others.
These transactions are taking place at the same time that the company is finalizing arrangements for an initial public offering. According to Reports, OfBusiness chief financial officer Bhavesh Keswani stated last month that the company plans to raise between $750 million and $1 billion in an initial public offering.
