bharat matrimony, bharatmatrimony, bharat matrimony founder Murugavel Janakiraman, bharat matrimony ipo, online matchmaking services, online dating
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Matrimony.com, which owns BharatMatrimony, the online portal for matrimonial listings, clocked revenues of around Rs. 300 crore for 2016-17. The Chennai-based company is all set to hit the capital markets in the second quarter this fiscal.

"Our revenues was just above Rs. 300 crore...I can't divulge other details given that we are in the process of our initial public offering (IPO)," founder-CEO Murugavel Janakiraman told the International Business Times India edition.

The IPO will comprise fresh shares in addition to stake sale by existing investors including founder-CEO Murugavel Janakiraman. "Obviously, there will be some dilution of stake by existing investors apart from fresh issues of share during the IPO," the 47-year-old entrepreneur said. 

The three investors are Bressmer Venture Partners, JPMorgan Partners and Mayfield. The Chennai-based company had to shelve its IPO plans last year due to "weak market conditions".

The company that owns few other matchmaking portals in addition to BharatMatrimony, will have to go in for fresh approval from capital markets regulator Sebi since the earlier one expired last December.

Janakiraman refused to divulge the IPO size and other details or for that matter, the percentage of stake sale by the existing investors, saying they are still being worked out.

In its draft prospectus filed in August 2015, Matrimony.com had sought permission from Sebi to raise Rs. 350 crore by way of fresh issue of shares, in addition to offer for sale (OFS) by existing investors.  

The document said the company's revenues for 2014-15 stood at Rs. 242.84 crore, most of which came from matchmaking services. Profit before exceptional items was Rs. 11.2 crore. The exceptional item referred to was legal expenses amounting to Rs. 14.62 crore incurred on a case in New Jersey.

Matrimony.com's rivals include People Group's shaadi.com and Info Edge's jeevansathi.com.

Highlights of the draft prospectus filed by Matrimony.com in August 2015:

Based on the Marriage Services Report (prepared for the company by KPMG), it is also estimated that approximately 65% of the Indian population is under 35 years. The young base will get married in the next two decades and result in an average of 10 to 12 million weddings per year until fiscal 2025.

The six subsidiaries of Matrimony.com are: Community Matrimony Private Limited; Sys India Private Limited; Matchify Services Private Limited; Tambulya Online Marketplace Private Limited; Consim Info USA. Inc. and BharatMatrimony LLC.

Murugavel Janakiraman held 11,768, 137 (11.76 million) shares, or 79.63 percent, of the total share capital, as of August 4, 2015.