Aman Gupta's boAt withdraws IPO plans, to raise Rs 500 crore

"The company is raising Rs 500 crore from its existing shareholder, an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity fund and new investor Malabar Investments," the company said in a press release.

The investment, the company said, would enable it to accelerate its plans to attain leadership in the smartwatches category, scale up its business across channels and geographies, strengthen its category leadership within audio, enhance its R&D and design capabilities, and support building a local manufacturing ecosystem under the Make-in-India initiative.

The funds have been raised via private placement through preference shares, the company stated.

Aman Gupta, co-founder and chief marketing officer of boAt, said the company had established clear leadership in the core personal audio category and is the No.2 player globally in earwear.

"It is a matter of pride that a brand born in India is ranked amongst the top brands in the world. We now want to make smartwatches our second core and will replicate the boAt digital playbook to become global leaders in this category as well," he said.

He said the funding would allow the firm to invest significantly to disrupt the smartwatch space with more innovative products.