At a Glance
India’s favourite online baby store is having trouble learning to walk on the Street. FirstCry’s GMV grew a healthy 16% in FY25 to ₹10,585 Cr, but its bottom line is still in the red, with ₹265 Cr in annual losses. What started as the Amazon of baby goods is now the Zomato of kiddie capitalism — big on scale, but still hunting for milk (aka profits). From private unicorn to publicly listed toddler, it’s been a rocky teething phase.
1. Introduction
Once the darling of Sequoia, SoftBank, and mom bloggers, Brainbees Solutions (FirstCry) finally hit the public markets — and promptly tripped on its own booties. The IPO listing was like a toddler’s first step: overexcited, overvalued, and quickly flat on its face. After listing at ₹734, it now trades at ₹357 — that’s a 51% drop, or as founders like to say, “a market-driven correction”.
Despite ₹7,660 Cr in sales and a customer base that can’t even spell “e-commerce”, Brainbees still reports losses, burning cash like a toddler discovering matches. Welcome to India’s largest baby product marketplace where growth is fast, margins are thin, and EBITDA is allergic to profits.
2. Business Model (WTF Do They Even Do?)
FirstCry is basically Flipkart for moms — but with a soft-focus Instagram filter. The company sells everything from diapers, baby formula, toys, clothes, strollers, maternity gear, to parenting courses and branded confusion. It operates in a hybrid model:
- Online portal (firstcry.com): high-frequency platform with 20k+ SKUs
- Offline stores: over 1,000 outlets via franchisees
- Private labels: FirstCry’s secret sauce (which tastes like Mamaearth but for babies)
It also acquired Oi Playschool and BabyOye in the past, trying to become an ecosystem for womb-to-school commerce. But that ecosystem is still powered by investor money and a prayer.
3. Financials Overview
Here’s the dirty diaper in the room:
- FY25 Revenue: ₹7,660 Cr
- Operating Profit: ₹230 Cr
- Net Loss: ₹265 Cr
- OPM: 3% (FY24 was 1%)
- Other Income: ₹101 Cr (aka fairy godmother money)
- Interest: ₹158 Cr
- Depreciation: ₹405 Cr
- Total Expenses: ₹7,430 Cr
- Cash Flow from Ops: ₹159 Cr (finally positive!)
Despite growing topline by 18%, profitability remains elusive — primarily due to high fixed costs, low retail margins, and a stubborn depreciation line that refuses to shrink.
4. Valuation – Let’s (Try to) Justify This Price
Let’s do the math — because clearly nobody at IPO roadshows did.
A. Price-to-Sales (P/S) Method
- Market Cap = ₹18,606 Cr
- Sales = ₹7,660 Cr
→ P/S =
