Snapdeal Parent AceVector Lists 11.6% Below Issue Price, Closes Down Over 18%

BENGALURU: AceVector, the parent of e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal and software company Unicommerce, made a weak stock market debut on October 5. Its shares listed at ₹28.30 on the BSE, 11.6 per cent below the issue price of ₹32, and at ₹28.32 on the NSE, 11.5 per cent lower, Inc42 reported. They closed the day more than 18 per cent below the issue price.

The ₹420 crore IPO, made up of a fresh issue of ₹287 crore and an offer for sale of ₹133 crore by existing shareholders, was open from September 25 to 29 at a price band of ₹30 to ₹32 a share, with a lot of 468 shares. It was subscribed 4.93 times, Inc42 reported. The company said it would use the money for marketing, technology infrastructure, acquisitions and general corporate purposes.

Demand built slowly. The issue was 23 per cent subscribed on the first day, Inc42 reported, and by 10:15 am on the last day it had been subscribed 1.23 times, with institutional buyers at 1.03 times, non-institutional investors at 1.35 times and retail investors at 1.62 times, according to Groww.

Existing investors including SoftBank, Nexus Venture Partners and Foxconn sold part of their holdings in the offer for sale, Outlook Business reported. Co-founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, who together hold 33.99 per cent of AceVector, did not sell any shares. Besides Snapdeal and Unicommerce, the group includes Stellaro Brands, an omnichannel consumer brands business.

The group as a whole is growing and narrowing its losses. AceVector's operating revenue rose 29 per cent to ₹510.38 crore in 2025-26 from ₹395.02 crore, and its adjusted EBITDA loss fell to ₹15.94 crore from ₹39.16 crore, according to Outlook Business.

Small next to Meesho

Snapdeal's marketplace grew in 2025-26. Its net merchandise value, the value of goods sold, rose 25.7 per cent to ₹1,093.1 crore from ₹869.6 crore, and marketplace revenue rose to ₹293.7 crore from ₹249.9 crore, according to Inc42's analysis of the offer document. It had 12.16 million annual transacting users and delivered 25.98 million units.

The trouble is scale. Meesho, which competes for the same value-conscious shoppers, reported net merchandise value of ₹41,560 crore in 2025-26, about 38 times Snapdeal's, and 264.29 million annual transacting users. Snapdeal's marketing spending on the marketplace also rose, to ₹84.4 crore from ₹63.2 crore.

Inc42 attributed the weak debut to "persistent losses, negative operating cash flows and intense competition", along with thin take rates, the share of each sale a marketplace keeps, high marketing and logistics costs, and limited interest from institutional investors.

"Its longevity gives it an established identity among consumers, but that alone may not be" enough to sustain growth in a market where customer acquisition and efficiency matter more and more, said Karan Taurani of Elara Capital, quoted by Inc42.

Inc42 also noted that 72.69 per cent of Snapdeal's orders were placed without a search term.

Unicommerce, the faster half

The stronger part of AceVector is Unicommerce, which sells software that helps online sellers manage orders and warehouses. Its revenue rose 51.6 per cent to ₹204.3 crore, Inc42 reported, against 17.5 per cent growth at Snapdeal.

A selective market

AceVector's debut was one of the weakest by an Indian startup this year. Four days earlier, lending app Moneyview listed at a 64 per cent premium on the BSE, and data centre company ESDS listed 76.5 per cent higher in September, according to Inc42's IPO tracker. Amagi, Shadowfax and Turtlemint all listed at discounts of around 9 to 12 per cent.

AceVector's shares will now trade daily on both exchanges, and its first results as a listed company will show whether Unicommerce's growth can offset the marketplace's losses.