boAt won Indian audio—now how far can it go?

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Editor's note: It’s almost unheard of that an Indian consumer brand in any category is one of the top five in the world. But that’s where Mumbai-based wireless audio and wearables company boAt has been for most of the past 18 months. Last week, boAt, or Imagine Marketing Ltd, submitted its draft filing for an initial public offering to the markets regulator, in what would be the latest in a line of Indian tech IPOs. The company is looking to raise Rs 900 crore in fresh capital from the public markets, while private equity firm Warburg Pincus and co-founders Sameer Mehta and Aman Gupta are selling some of their shares for a total of Rs 1,100 crore. boAt has, over the past five years or so, come to dominate the Indian market for wireless earphones and headphones of all kinds, with a market share of 48% in the September quarter, according to market research firm IDC. That’s almost double the next four brands combined. Only four corporations in the world sell more wearables (wireless audio, smartwatches and fitness bands) than boAt, and …