Fidelity Investments cuts Meesho’s valuation by 10%

NEW DELHI: Meesho has become the latest Indian startup to have its valuation marked down by its investors. US-based Fidelity Investments has cut the Bengaluru-based e-commerce firm’s valuation by about 10% to $4.4 billion, recent regulatory filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed.
Fidelity had co-led Meesho’s $570 million funding round along with B Capital in September 2021 at a valuation of $4.9 billion. Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios, one of the US-based firm’s affiliate funds has pegged the value of its shares in Meesho at $2.34 million as of March 31, 2023 down from $2.59 million or by 9.65% earlier, the filings showed. “Funds attribute value to their portfolio investments, taking into account multiple factors. In this case, factors like an increase in the ESOP (employee stock option plan) pool of nearly 4% in the applicable period have influenced the attribution of value,” said a spokesperson at Meesho.
Amid a global economic downturn that has nudged investors to assume a cautious posture and severely squeezed funding into startups, several unicorns like Swiggy, Byju’s and PharmEasy have of late seen a series of valuation markdowns by investors.
Meesho which like most of its established peers is reining in expenses and striving to speed up its path to profitability amid strict investor vigilance earlier this month laid off some 251 employees. Announcing the layoffs, founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey had emphasised on the need to “stay highly prudent on the cost front.”