What the business is
Travel Boutique Online, a B2B portal selling hotel and flight booking APIs and white-label tools to travel agents and tour operators
The bet
A listing with a new plan, INR 400 Cr fresh issue plus an offer for sale, can list TBO now that it is profitable, where the approved 2021 plan was left unlaunched
How it started
TBO, founded in 2006, runs a B2B travel portal that it says connects over 147,000 buyers across more than 100 countries with over 1 million suppliers, offering 7,500 destinations and 33,000 bookings a day, as of 30 June 2023. It first filed a DRHP in December 2021 and got market regulator approval for an INR 2,100 Cr IPO, but did not launch it.
What happened
TBO's profit rose to INR 148.49 Cr in FY23 from INR 33.72 Cr in FY22, and total income to INR 1,085.77 Cr from INR 511.93 Cr. In Q1 FY24 it reported total income of INR 347.88 Cr and profit of INR 47.3 Cr.
How it ended up
On 9 November 2023 TBO Tek filed a second DRHP with SEBI: a fresh issue of up to INR 400 Cr and an offer for sale of 1.56 Cr shares by promoters Gaurav Bhatnagar and Manish Dhingra, LAP Travel, TBO Korea and Augusta TBO. Proceeds would go to adding buyers and suppliers, unidentified acquisitions and general purposes.
What has to be true
Profit and income more than doubled between FY22 and FY23
The new-age tech IPO market was recovering after a lull
The 2021 IPO had been approved but not launched
An offer for sale alongside the fresh issue lets promoters and investors sell some shares
What can be applied
A company that shelved an approved IPO can return when profits are visible and the market reopens, this time with existing holders selling shares alongside the fresh issue.
Aftermath
As of 2023-11-09, TBO Tek had filed a second DRHP for a fresh issue of up to INR 400 Cr plus an offer for sale; the IPO had not yet been priced or listed in this report.
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