Koovs wants to be the next ASOS

Anant Nahata, chief executive officer of online fashion retailer Koovs and son of HFCL chairman Mahendra Nahata, is making news. Koovs recently listed on AIM (formerly Alternative Investment Market), a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, thereby becoming the first Indian e-commerce company outside of travel to go for an initial public offering (IPO) abroad. In fact, there’s no listed company in Indian e-commerce, other than travel.

Soon after the London listing, where the company has already raised $37 million (Rs 225 crore), Anant told Business Standard, “someone has to lead the way”. The company that started in fashion retailing in the country last February, aspires to be the Indian equivalent of UK’s leading online chain ASOS and Vanci.com of China. “We expect to be the largest fashion destination in the country in about three to five years,” said Anant.

The company decided to go for an IPO because “we believe e-commerce is a long game and in this journey we will need more partners and funds,” according to Anant, who has an Economics degree from the University of Pennsylvania and has investment banking experience in Singapore and New York. “More importantly, we wanted a corporate governance structure in place with real valuation of the company.”

The company had started with an initial capital investment of about Rs 140 crore ($23 million) contributed from Nahata family of HFCL and other key investors.