Business

IIE DIGITAL DESK : Urban Company, the tech-enabled home and beauty services marketplace, has fixed the price band for its much-anticipated initial public offering at ₹98 to ₹103 per share and will open the mainboard public offer for subscription on Wednesday, 10 September 2025. At the upper end of the band, the company is looking to raise ₹1,900 crore through a combination of a fresh issue and an offer for sale, with the anchor book slated to open a day earlier on 9 September and the public issue closing on 12 September.

The structure of the offer blends capital raising and share sale: the IPO comprises a fresh issue of ₹472 crore together with an offer for sale aggregating ₹1,428 crore. Retail applicants must apply in a minimum lot of 145 shares, which translates to an outlay of at least ₹14,935 at the upper price band to subscribe for one lot. The allocation mix reserves 75% of the issue for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), 15% for non-institutional investors (NIIs) and 10% for retail investors; an additional up to ₹2.5 crore of the offer size is earmarked for eligible employees. 

Management has outlined clear priorities for the fresh proceeds: roughly ₹190 crore is earmarked to expand technology and cloud infrastructure, ₹75 crore for lease payments tied to office premises, ₹90 crore for marketing initiatives and the remainder for general corporate purposes. These planned uses signal Urban Company’s intent to continue investing in platform robustness and customer acquisition as it scales across existing and new markets.

Founded as a full-stack marketplace for home and personal services, Urban Company operates across multiple service verticals — from cleaning, pest control and appliance repair to beauty and wellness appointments — and maintains a presence in 51 cities spanning India, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. The company relies on a network of trained independent service professionals and positions itself as a quality-focused alternative in the fragmented on-demand services market.

Market sentiment ahead of the listing finds some early signals in the grey market: according to the coverage cited in the company announcement, the Urban Company IPO’s grey market premium stood at about ₹10, indicating modest secondary-market enthusiasm above the stated band. Investors should, however, treat grey market indications cautiously and weigh fundamentals, competitive dynamics and margin sustainability before participating. 

As one of the larger consumer-services listings of the season, Urban Company’s offer will test investor appetite for platform businesses that are capital-light but execution-heavy. With a significant portion of the issue reserved for institutional investors, pricing, subscription patterns across categories and post-listing performance will together determine whether the market rewards the company’s playbook of quality control, geographic spread and technology investment. Prospective investors are advised to consult certified financial advisors and study the company’s prospectus for a full view of risks and financials before applying.