Adtech pioneer InMobi is setting its sights on a $10 billion valuation for its anticipated public offering scheduled for next year, as indicated by two informed sources who spoke with TechCrunch.
The company is considering a listing in India, according to the individuals, who wished to remain anonymous given the confidential nature of the discussions. InMobi, which currently operates profitably, is in the process of changing its legal home from Singapore to India over the next few months, added the sources.
Aiming for a $10 billion valuation with its IPO in India, InMobi is set to become one of the most notable public debuts of a domestic software enterprise. Historically, Indian startups opting for IPOs have targeted valuations less than $5 billion. Notably, Paytm’s market value diminished from an initial $20 billion at its 2021 IPO to $3.5 billion.
InMobi’s strategy involves going public as a conglomerate, encompassing its advertising division and stakes in Glance, a unicorn startup creating lockscreen experiences for Android devices, reveal the sources. Furthermore, InMobi is on track to amass over $700 million in annual revenue by the close of March, according to one insider.
Google, already an investor in Glance, is currently in talks with InMobi to spearhead a fresh investment exceeding $200 million in Glance, a source disclosed. This funding initiative is expected to be finalized shortly.
An official from InMobi chose not to comment on these updates on Wednesday.
Founded in 2007, InMobi broke new ground as India’s inaugural unicorn, despite facing initial challenges in the competitive digital ad market led by giants like Google and Meta.
InMobi has developed an extensive ad platform that combines both demand-side and supply-side mechanisms within a sizable ad marketplace, serving a global network of tens of thousands of app partners in 50 nations. Its client base spans prominent names such as Mastercard, Samsung, Vodafone, and Coca-Cola, to name a few.
Having secured under $300 million in funding so far, InMobi counts SoftBank among its major investors, despite SoftBank previously writing off the investment.
Over the past decade, InMobi has not only expanded its ad business but also ventured into consumer sectors, laying the groundwork for offerings like Glance.
Glance revolutionizes the Android lockscreen by streaming news, local events, media, and games directly to users, with the app active on around 300 million out of 450 million installed devices. Partnering with TechCrunch, Glance has also commenced testing its services in the U.S. market.
Soon, Glance aims to unveil an updated version featuring generative AI to curate personalized content streams for users, including a unique feature for virtually trying on different brands’ apparel, as seen in internal tests shared with TechCrunch.
Importantly, Glance maintains user privacy by not harvesting personal data. InMobi envisages that generative AI can tailor the app to user inclinations, ultimately fostering user engagement and stimulating e-commerce activity.
Moreover, InMobi is poised to introduce generative AI tools within its advertising segment to facilitate the creation and seamless integration of native ads into diverse forms of content, as per the demos viewed.
Compiled by Techarena.au.
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