Franchisee-led quick commerce startup Apna Mart reported a near 2X jump in its standalone operating revenue in the financial year 2023-24. Its revenue from operations zoomed 85% to INR 59.4 Cr in FY24 from INR 32.2 Cr in the previous fiscal year, as per its filings accessed from Tofler.

Founded in 2022 by Abhishek Singh and Chetan Garg, Apna Mart provides 15-minute grocery and retail delivery services in Tier II & III cities. It competes against the likes of Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and IPO-bound Zepto in the quick commerce market.

Apna Mart sells daily essentials, personal and pet care products, beverages and electronics via its brick and mortar stores and app. 

Including other income of INR 3.6 Cr, the Bengaluru-based startup racked up INR 63 Cr in total revenue during the fiscal year ended March 2024.

However, the growth in the top line came at the cost of its bottom line. Apna Mart’s net loss surged 52% to INR 33.1 Cr during the year under review from INR 21.8 Cr in FY23.

EBITDA loss also surged 47% to INR 31.5 Cr from an EBITDA loss of INR 21.5 Cr in FY23.

It must be noted that unlike Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto that have adopted a dark store model for their quick commerce operations, Apna Mart leverages its franchise outlets for operational efficiency.

The startup claims to have an offline presence in 14 cities, including Ranchi, Bhilai, Raipur, Asansol and Kolkata.

Where Did Apna Mart Spend In FY24?

While Apna Mart’s overall expenses shot up 78% to INR 96 Cr in FY24 from INR 54 Cr in the previous fiscal year, the increase in revenue still outpaced the surge in expenditure.

Procurement Costs: Since Apna Mart is essentially a marketplace, its biggest expense was procurement of goods. The spending under this head jumped 85% to INR 58.4 Cr during the year under review from INR 31.6 Cr in FY23.

Employee Costs: The startup spent INR 16.7 Cr towards employee benefit expenses during the year ended March 2024, a jump over 83% from INR 9.1 Cr spent a year ago.

Other Expenses: The spending under this head rose 48% to INR 19.3 Cr in FY24. Of this, Apna Mart spent INR 3.4 Cr on advertisement and publicity and INR 2.4 Cr on logistics and packaging fee.

It is pertinent to note that Apna Mart is raising INR 214 Cr (about $25 Mn) in a funding round led by Nandan Nilekani’s Fundamentum. The round will also see Accel India join Apna Mart’s cap table. Of the total funding, INR 176 Cr will be equity and the rest will be debt.

Prior to this, it raised about $15 Mn in funding from investors such as Peak XV Partners, Sparrow Capital, Alteria Capital, 2am VC, among others.

Apna Mart’s latest fundraise comes amid rising competitive intensity in India’s rapidly growing quick commerce sector. Several quick delivery startups have sprung up in the space in recent months, including the likes of Swish, Zing, and Snabbit. These startups are targeting sectors outside the traditional grocery delivery category that quick commerce popularised.

These new-age tech companies, attempting to carve out a niche for themselves in the already crowded space, are also scooping up funds from notable investors. In March, 10-minute food delivery startup Swish raised $14 Mn in its Series A funding round from investors, including Accel. Prior to that, Snabbit, which offers on-demand services by trained personnel under 15 minutes, secured $5.5 Mn (around INR 47.6 Cr) in its Series A funding round led by Elevation Capital.

The post Apna Mart’s Revenue Surges 85% To INR 59 Cr In FY24 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Heavenly Secrets Pvt Ltd, the parent of D2C personal care brand Pligrim, saw its operating revenue surge 160% to INR 198.8 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 76.5 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

The startup posted a net loss of INR 26.3 Cr in FY24, up 14.2% from the INR 23.05 Cr loss it incurred the previous fiscal.  Its EBITDA loss also widened to INR 25.2 Cr during the year under review as against an EBITDA loss of INR 20.9 Cr in FY23. However, its EBITDA margin improved 14 percentage points to -13% in FY24 from -27% in the previous year. 

Including an other income component of INR 5.6 Cr, the startup’s total revenue stood at INR 204.4 Cr in FY24. 

Founded by Anurag Kedia and Gagandeep Makker in 2019, Pilgrim sells beauty and body care products in several segments including skin care, hair care, colour cosmetics, fragrance and more. 

Not unlike many other digital native brands, the startup has also expanded its presence offline in recent times. Besides selling its products on its website and ecommerce platform, it claims to have expanded its presence to five retail stores and 300 partner stores across India.

Pilgrim has raised over $40 Mn till date from investors like Fireside Ventures, Vertex Ventures SEAI and Mirabilis Investment Trust, among others. 

A few days ago, the startup netted a fresh capital of INR 200 Cr via a mix of primary and secondary transactions. The fresh capital will allow it to expand its offline presence and R&D capabilities.

Where Did Pilgrim Spend? 

In line with the upsurge in revenue, Pilgrims’ expenditure also jumped significantly during the fiscal. It spent INR 230.4 Cr in FY24, more than double of the INR 100 Cr it spent in the prior fiscal. 

Employee Benefit Expense:  Pilgrim spent INR 21.2 Cr on its employees in FY24, a significant jump from the INR 6.2 Cr it spent in the prior fiscal. This is indicative of an expansion in its workforce. 

Marketing Cost: The startup spent INR 108.8 Cr to promote itself in the fiscal year, surging nearly 107% from INR 52.5 Cr in FY23. 

Rent: Pilgrim paid INR 3.02 Cr as a part of its rent in the fiscal under review from previously spending INR 60.5 Lakh in FY23.

The startup competes against the likes of Mamaearth, SUGAR Cosmetics, Juicy Chemistry, Nykaa and several other D2C brands in India’s personal care space.

The post Pilgrim’s FY24 Revenue Jumps 160% To INR 199 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Investment tech platform Fisdom, which is reportedly in talks for an acquisition by bigger rival Groww, saw its consolidated net loss decline by 19% to INR 57.4 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 70.5 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

According to the filings of its parent Finwizard Technology, the startup’s operating revenue surged 28% to INR 82.9 Cr during the year under review from INR 64.7 Cr in FY23. 

Including other income of INR 1.4 Cr, its total revenue stood at INR 84.3 Cr during the year under review as against INR 67.5 Cr in FY23.

Despite the strong growth in its top line, total expenses rose only about 3% to INR 141.7 Cr during the year under review from INR 138 Cr in FY23.

In June last year, Fisdom cofounder Subramanya SV claimed that the startup turned EBITDA profitable in the March quarter of FY24. 

“For each of the last 3 months, we are EBITDA positive and generating case. We thank our customers, employees, investors and partners who have been supporting us through this journey. As we look ahead into FY25, we will aim to be profitable for the full financial year and start paying taxes to the Government of India at the earliest!” the cofounder said in a post on X on June 3, 2024. 

Founded by ex-Macquarie group SVP Anand Dalmia and ex-Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) partner Subramanya in 2015, Fisdom is a fintech startup that provides an all-inclusive suite for investing, trading, retirement planning and tax filing.

Operating In A Competitive Segment: Fisdom forayed into the investment tech space, when it was still in its nascent stage in 2016, with a single product – mutual funds. Later, it added stock and F&O trading, portfolio management services, among others, in its offerings. It also provides investors a personal wealth manager to help them better evaluate their financial decisions. 

Fisdom claims to have 1 Mn active customers across its services. However, it faces stiff competition in the investment tech space and seems to be struggling to expand its customer base.

For instance, Fisdom’s total active stock market clients stood at a measly 22.3K for the month of February 2025. In this regard, it trails stock broking platforms like Paytm Money, Dhan, Zerodha, among others.

Meanwhile, in the mutual funds space, Fisdom has an upper hand with INR 6.4K Cr of assets under management (AUM). While Zerodha AMC claims to have moved past INR 4K Cr in AUM in FY24, Fisdom’s potential acquirer Groww’s AMC AUM stood at INR 1.9K Cr in the fiscal. 

However, it is pertinent to note Groww AMC received SEBI’s nod to launch its first mutual fund in September 2023, while Zerodha Fund House launched its maiden mutual funds in October in the same year. 

Meanwhile, the Groww-Fisdom acquisition talks are said to be in initial stages. Neither of the two parties have officially commented on it. 

As per reports, the deal might value Fisdom in a range of $140 Mn to $160 Mn, but Groww is also looking at other candidates for acquisition to expand its portfolio of offerings. 

The post Investment Tech Platform Fisdom’s FY24 Loss Declines 19% To INR 57 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

D2C brand Jimmy’s Cocktails saw its operating revenue decline 30.9% to INR 23.7 Cr in the financial year ended March 2024 (FY24) from INR 34.3 Cr in the previous year.

Including other income of INR 2.9 Cr, the startup’s total income fell 23.3% to INR 26.6 Cr during the year under review from INR 34.7 Cr in FY23.

Despite the decline in its top line, Jimmy’s Cocktails’ net loss widened 47.1% to INR 10 Cr in FY24 from INR 6.8 Cr in the previous year due to higher cash burn. Its EBITDA loss jumped 51.2% to INR 13 Cr from an EBITDA loss of INR 8.6 Cr in FY23. EBITDA margin worsened 30 percentage points to -55% from -25% in FY23. 

It sells its products via its website, offline stores, and various ecommerce and quick commerce platforms. 

It is pertinent to mention that the startup claimed in May last year that it turned profitable in FY24. At the time, it said it was aiming for a revenue run rate of over INR 100 Cr over the next 18 months.

Founded in 2019 by Ankur Bhatia and Nitin Bhardwaj, Jimmy’s Cocktails is a premium cocktail mixer brand which offers a range of low-calorie, ready-to-drink mixers. It forayed into the energy drinks segment in July 2023 under the brand name ‘Hustle’. 

The startup last raised $1.3 Mn (INR 11 Cr) in its extended pre-Series A round in 2023. Before that, it raised a funding of $1.8 Mn in a round led by Roots Ventures in 2022.

Tracking Down Expenses 

While the revenue dipped over 30%, Jimmy’s Cocktails managed to bring down its total expenditure by only 8% to INR 40.4 Cr in FY24 from INR 43.9 Cr in FY23.

Cost Of Materials: The startup’s spending on raw materials declined 39.6% to INR 8.1 Cr from INR 13.4 Cr in the previous year. 

Employee Benefit Expenses: The spending on employees increased 2.3% to INR 8.9 Cr from INR 8.7 Cr in the previous fiscal. These expenses include salaries, gratuity, provident fund, among others.

Other Expenses: The spending under the head declined 14.2% to INR 18.2 Cr from INR 21.2 Cr in the previous year. However, the company didn’t disclose the expenses under this head.

The post Jimmy’s Cocktails’ Revenue Dips 31% To INR 23.7 Cr In FY24 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Luxury house of brands startup Purple Style Labs (PSL) saw its operation revenue cross the INR 500 Cr mark in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). Its top line surged 36.4% to INR 507.8 Cr from INR 372.4 Cr in FY23.

While it earned INR 492 Cr from the sale of products, the rest came from the sale of services.  The startup generated INR 319.5 Cr from sales in India and INR 172.5 Cr from overseas sales. 

Despite the rise in revenue, the fashion brand saw its net loss rise. It posted a loss of INR 45.7 Cr in FY24, up 19.9% from INR 38.1 Cr in the previous year. However, it was able to reduce its cash burn.

The startup’s EBITDA loss for the year under review stood at INR 17.7 Cr as against an EBITDA loss of INR 23.8 Cr in the previous year. EBITDA margin improved 3 percentage points to -3% from -6% in FY23.

Founded in 2015, Purple Style Labs is a luxury fashion house that counts Indian designer brands like Pernia’s Pop Up Studio & Shop, Wendell Rodricks, Hemant Trevedi in its portfolio. It sells its products both online and offline. It has a subsidiary in the UK as well. 

In 2018, Purple Style Labs acquired Pernia’s Pop Up Shop and has since expanded to over 15 experience centers across major Indian cities and in London. 

Earlier this week, the startup raised $40 Mn in its Series E funding round led by SageOne Flagship Growth OE Fund, Alchemy Long Term Ventures Fund, Bajaj Holdings & Investment, and Minerva Ventures Fund. The round also saw participation from celebrities like Salman Khan and Sachin Tendulkar.

The capital would be used to fuel the startup’s aggressive expansion plans, both domestically and internationally. Besides, a part of the freshly raised funds would also be deployed for strengthening its omnichannel capabilities. 

Zooming Into The Expenses

In line with the top line growth, Purple Style Labs’ expenses increased 31.6% to INR 555.2 Cr in FY24 from INR 421.9 Cr in the previous year. 

Employee Benefit Expenses: The startup spent INR 58.9 Cr towards employee benefits, up 33% from INR 44.3 Cr in FY23. 

Advertising & Promotional Expenses: The spending under this head shot up 13% to INR 57.1 Cr in FY24 from INR 50.5 Cr in the previous year. 

Rent: Rental expenses during the year under review grew 30% to INR 45.2 Cr from INR 34.8 Cr in FY23.

In February this year, Purple Style Labs rented Zara’s former flagship store in the 118-year-old Ismail Building in South Mumbai. Zara closed the store citing high expenses. Purple Style Labs has leased the 60,000 sq ft space for a five-year period and it will spend INR 36 Cr annually.

The post Pernia’s Pop Up Shop’s Parent Crosses INR 500 Cr Revenue Mark In FY24 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Snap Camera India, the Indian subsidiary of social media giant SnapChat, crossed the INR 100 Cr revenue mark in the fiscal year ended March 2024 (FY24). Its operating revenue rose 28.5% to INR 101.3 Cr during the year from INR 78.8 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

The growth in revenue can primarily be attributed to the company’s robust advertising business and the introduction of its subscription service, Snapchat+, which has garnered over 14 Mn global subscribers and accounted for 9% of SnapChat’s global revenue in Q4 2024. 

Meanwhile, the India entity’s net profit grew 25.9% to INR 9.7 Cr in FY24 from INR 7.7 Cr in FY23.

Notably, Snapchat has been witnessing rapid user growth in India, with its user base surpassing 200 Mn, making it one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the country. 

The platform’s popularity is particularly pronounced among younger demographics, with 48% of its users aged between 18 and 24. It competes with the likes of Instagram and TikTok. 

Last month, Snapchat CTO Bobby Murphy said that the company’s augmented reality (AR) developer community in India has grown by more than 50% in the last two years. 

Globally, Snapchat reported a revenue of $5.36 Bn for the year 2024, marking a 16% increase from the previous year. The company’s net loss decreased to $698 Mn in 2024 from $1.32 Bn in the prior year.

Tracking Down Expenses

In line with the increase in revenue, Snap Camera India’s total expenditure for the year under review jumped 28.7% to INR 88.3 Cr in FY24 from INR 68.6 Cr in FY23. 

Employee Benefit Expenses: The company’s expenses under this head grew 8.1% to INR 42.5 Cr from INR 39.3 Cr in previous year. 

Notably, last year, Snapchat India’s managing director Pulkit Trivedi told Inc42 that the platform was expanding its team size in the country. Much like other markets, Snapchat is primarily focussed on building a GenZ userbase (13 to 25 years) in India as well, with offerings like its high-tech augmented reality (AR) enabled camera filters.

At the time, he had said that the company’s “commitment is to deepen our connection with Young India, making Snapchat their go-to platform for authentic self-expression, real connections, and innovative brand interactions”.

Notably, in February this year, Snapchat elevated Asia Pacific (APAC) president Ajit Mohan to the role of its new chief business officer (CBO). 

Advertising and Promotional Expenses: The company’s spending under this head surged 37% to INR 14.8 Cr from INR 10.8 Cr in FY23. 

Miscellaneous Expenses: The company spent INR 17.1 Cr under this head, an increase of 134.3% from INR 7.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year. However, it did not give a breakdown of these expenses.

The post SnapChat’s India Revenue Crosses INR 100 Cr Mark In FY24 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

After seeing a 3X year-on-year (YoY) jump in its net loss in the financial year ended March 2023 (FY23), B2B fintech startup M2P Fintech’s loss stayed flat in FY24. The startup posted a loss of INR 133.5 Cr in FY24, an increase of 0.15% from INR 133.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

However, this came at the cost of its top line. The startup’s operating revenue slipped 13.3% to INR 382 Cr in FY24 from INR 440.7 Cr in FY23. 

EBITDA loss during the year under review declined to INR 87.8 Cr from INR 108.9 Cr in FY23. Its EBITDA margin improved by 2 percentage points to -23% from -25% in the previous year. 

Founded in 2014 by Muthukumar A, Prabhu R, and Madhusudanan R, M2P provides banking, lending and payment solutions to banks, NBFCs, and online businesses. 

The startup’s income sources include revenue from API services, payment infrastructure contracts, and card processing services. It claims to serve more than 300 banks, 100 NBFCs and 800 fintech companies. Besides India, it has presence in 20 countries like the UAE, Egypt, Indonesia, and the Philippines. 

In September last year, the startup raised INR 850 Cr in its Series D round, which valued it at over INR 6,550 Cr ($751 Mn). M2P has raised a total funding of about $216 Mn to date from the likes of Tiger Global, Helios Investment Partners, and BEENEXT.

Earlier today, it was reported that M2P is in talks to acquire enterprise AI startup Mad Street Den.

Zooming Into M2P’s Expenses 

M2P’s total expenses declined 15.4% to INR 527.6 Cr in FY24 from INR 623.3 Cr in the previous year.

Employee Benefit Expenses: The startup’s spending on its employees jumped 33.46% to INR 251.3 Cr from INR 188.3 Cr in FY23.

Of the INR 251.3 Cr, it spent INR 200.9 Cr on salaries, while the rest was for ESOPs. 

Cost Of Materials Consumed: M2P was able to more than halve the expenses under this head to INR 156 Cr from INR 365.4 Cr in FY23.

Impairment Loss: The startup’s impairment loss increased a whopping 680% to INR 11.7 Cr from a mere INR 1.5 Cr in FY23.

The post M2P Fintech’s FY24 Loss Stagnant At INR 133 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) oral care startup Perfora’s operating revenue skyrocketed 180% to INR 42.2 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 from INR 15.1 Cr in the previous fiscal year amid rising demand for electric toothbrushes and other oral care products.

Founded in 2021 by Tushar Khurana and Jatan Bawa, Perfora is a digital-first dental and oral care brand. Its portfolio of products includes electric toothbrushes, alcohol-free mouthwash, smart water flossers, and peroxide-free teeth whitening pens, among others. 

The Delhi NCR-based startup rose to fame after appearing on Shark Tank India, where it bagged a check of INR 80 Lakh at a valuation of INR 32 Cr.

In November last year, Inc42 exclusively reported that Perfora raised INR 39.8 Cr (about $4.7 Mn) in a funding round led by RPSG Capital Ventures. Overall, the startup has raised $8.7 Mn in funding to date.

Perfora competes against the likes of Patanjali, Biotique, Colgate, among others. 

Including other income of INR 1.1 Cr, Perfora’s total revenue stood at INR 43.3 Cr during the year ended March 2024. The company earned almost all of its revenue from the sale of products in the domestic market.

Despite strong growth in the top line, the startup’s consolidated net loss more than doubled to INR 10.7 Cr in FY24 from INR 4.9 Cr in the previous fiscal year due to a surge in expenses.

The company reported an EBITDA loss of INR 10.2 Cr while its EBITDA margin stood at -24% during the year.

At the end of FY24, Perfora held assets worth INR 24.2 Cr, including cash and cash equivalents to the tune of INR 9.6 Cr.

Where Did Perfora Spend In FY24?

Amid a surge in sales, the D2C oral care startup’s overall expenses ballooned 167% to INR 54 Cr during the year under review from INR 20.2 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Ad Expense: This was the biggest expense head for the oral care startup. The oral care startup spent INR 20.5 Cr on advertisement and business promotion expenses during the under review, a nearly 3X jump from INR 7 Cr in FY23.

Procurement Cost: The spending under this head shot up over 2X to INR 19.6 Cr in FY24 from INR 9.7 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Employee Cost: Perfora spent INR 3.7 Cr towards employee benefit expenses in the financial year 2023-24, almost 3X higher than INR 1.3 Cr spent in this bracket in FY23.

The post Perfora’s FY24 Revenue Zooms 180% YoY To INR 42 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Kolkata-based QSR chain Wow! Momo’s net loss remained almost flat at INR 114.4 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24). This was 0.53% higher than the loss of INR 113.8 Cr in FY23.

Its operating revenue rose 13.83% to INR 470 Cr during the year under review from INR 412.9 Cr in FY23. 

The startup also hit EBITDA profitability during the year under review. Wow! Momo’s EBITDA stood at INR 38.2 Cr in FY24 as against an EBITDA loss of INR 1.7 Cr in the previous fiscal year. EBITDA margin improved to 8% in FY24 from 0% in the previous fiscal year. 

Founded in 2008 by Binod Kumar Homagai, Sagar Daryani, and Shah Miftaur Rahman, Wow! Momo operates over 300 outlets across 17 cities. It also operates Wow! Chicken, Wow! Kulfi and Wow! China brands, and sells a variety of frozen food via its FMCG vertical.

The startup primarily competes with the likes of Rebel Foods, Curefoods and EatClub in the restaurant and cloud kitchen segments.

It last raised INR 70 Cr from Z3Partners in April last year, three months after it bagged INR 350 Cr in its Series D funding round led by Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah in January last year. Overall, it has raised a total funding of over $135 Mn to date and counts Tiger Global, Lighthouse, among others, as its investors. 

In October, it was reported that Wow! Momo is targeting a revenue of INR 650 Cr in the ongoing financial year. It is also planning to float an initial public offering (IPO) in 2027, but it would hinge on it hitting the INR 1,000 Cr revenue mark.

Breaking Down Wow! Momo’s Expenses 

The startup’s expenditure for the fiscal year under review grew 11.9% to INR 593.1 Cr from INR 530 Cr in FY23. 

Employee Benefit Expenses: The spending under this head dropped 27.7% to INR 120 Cr from INR 166.1 Cr in FY23. This was likely due to headcount reduction. 

Advertising & Promotional Expenses: The startup’s advertising expenses more than doubled to INR 26.5 Cr from INR 11.9 Cr in FY23.

Commission Paid To Other Selling Agents: Wow! Momo’s expenses under this head grew 12.9% to INR 32.4 Cr in FY24 from INR 28.7 Cr in FY23.

The post Wow! Momo’s Loss Flat At INR 114 Cr In FY24 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Healthtech startup Pristyn Care reported a net loss of INR 381 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24), down a negligible 0.42% from INR 382.6 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

The startup’s loss was flat despite a strong growth in its top line. Pristyn Care’s operating revenue grew 32.6% to INR 600.5 Cr during the year under review from INR 452.9 Cr in FY23.

The startup earned INR 226.7 Cr from the sale of products, it generated INR 332 Cr from the sale of services. While the revenue from the sale of services remained stagnant in the period under review, the revenue from products grew 112.6% from INR 106.6 Cr in FY23. 

EBITDA loss improved slightly to INR 345.3 Cr from INR 352 Cr in the previous year. EBITDA margin improved to -57% in FY24 from -78% in FY23. 

Founded by Harsimarbir Singh, Vaibhav Kapoor, and Garima Sawhney, Pristyn Care is a healthtech platform that focuses on surgeries. It helps patients connect with skilled surgeons for better treatment.

Recently, the startup opened its first super-speciality hospital in New Delhi. 

Pristyn Care has raised a total funding of $177 Mn to date and counts the likes of Tiger Global, Winter Capital, Epiq Capital, and Hummingbird Ventures among its investors. As per reports, the startup is planning to raise between $50 Mn and $100 Mn in a new funding round to support its growth. The round is expected to close by mid-2025.

The startup is also considering going public within the next three years and has already started discussions with bankers, global investors, and family offices to prepare for the listing.

In March last year, Pristyn Care fired 120 employees with an eye on turning profitable in FY25.

Breaking Down The Expenses

The rise in Pristyn Care’s revenue outpaced the increase in its expenses. Total expenditure rose 15.6% to INR 1,013.8 Cr in FY24 from INR 876.8 Cr in FY23. Let’s take a look at the key expenses:

Employee Benefit Expenses: The startup’s expenses in this segment decreased 3.42% to INR 191.8 Cr from INR 198.6 Cr in FY23.

Advertising & Promotional Expenses: Pristyn Care’s advertising expenses decreased 20.89% to INR 182.5 Cr from INR 230.7 Cr in FY23.

IT Expenses: The spending under the head increased 6.38% to INR 15 Cr from INR 14.1 Cr in the previous year.

The post Pristyn Care’s Loss Flat At INR 381 Cr In FY24 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Professional networking unicorn Apna trimmed its consolidated net loss by over 57% to INR 51.3 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 120.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year due to improvement in its EBITDA margin.

The Tiger Global-backed startup’s EBITDA loss declined to INR 35.2 Cr during the year under review from INR 105.1 Cr in FY23. As a result, its EBITDA margin improved by 30 percentage points to -28% in FY24 from -58% in the previous fiscal year.

However, the improvement in the Bengaluru-headquartered startup’s bottom line came at the cost of its top line. Its operating revenue tumbled over 29% to INR 127.6 Cr during the reported period from INR 180.3 Cr in FY23, largely due to a sharp decline in income from software development support services.

Including other income of INR 12.2 Cr, the company’s total revenue stood at INR 139.8 Cr during the year under review.

Founded in 2019 by Nirmit Parikh, Apna initially endorsed itself as a LinkedIn-like hiring platform for the blue- and grey-collared workforce. In 2021, it also began posting job listings for the white-collar segment.

The same year, the startup entered the unicorn club after raising $100 Mn in a Series C funding round led by Tiger Global Management. Apna has raised over $193 Mn in funding to date and counts the likes of Lightspeed, Sequoia Capital, GSV Ventures, among others, as its investors.

At present, Apna claims to have nearly 60 Mn users and serves more than 7 Lakh small and medium business employers and enterprises. Its enterprise customers include Zomato, Lenskart, Flipkart, Paytm, TVS, among others.

It currently has over 50 Lakh active job openings across 43 segments on its platform and has a presence in more than 70 cities.

Revenue Breakdown

Apna, which competes against the likes of LinkedIn, Info Edge-owned Naukri, and Indeed, saw revenue from its recruitment solutions more than double to INR 35.6 Cr in FY24 from INR 16.6 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

The startup also provides upskilling services to workers. It raked in INR 29 Lakh from its skilling services during the year under review, down nearly 28% from INR 40 Lakh in FY23.

Apna earned a lion’s share of its revenue from its software development support services during the year under review. However, income from this vertical almost halved to INR 91.6 Cr in FY24 from INR 180.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Zooming Into Expenses

Amid a degrowth in its top line, Apna’s overall expenses fell over 37% to INR 191 Cr during the year under review from INR 308.4 Cr in FY23.

Employee Benefits Expenses: While this was the biggest cost driver for the recruitment startup, the spending under this head declined almost 40% to INR 123 Cr in FY24 from INR 203.8 Cr a year ago. This included ESOP expenses to the tune of INR 9.6 Cr.

Advertising Promotional Expenses: The early talent hiring platform spent INR 37.3 Cr for business promotion in FY24, nearly 40% lower than INR 62.1 Cr it spent in this bracket in the previous fiscal year.

Earlier this week, the union labour ministry signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Apna to bring over 10 Lakh job opportunities annually to the National Career Service (NCS) portal.

Launched in 2015, NCS is a national portal, which provides digital services like job placement, vacancy notification, information on formal training programmes and on-the-job training to job seekers. 

Under the partnership, Apna will post job listings on the NCS. While Apna will gain access to NCS’ candidate database, the labour ministry will facilitate integration via the online and offline interface. 

The post Hiring Platform Apna’s FY24 Loss More Than Halves To INR 51 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

En route to its public listing, SaaS unicorn Fractal Analytics reported a consolidated net loss of INR 54.7 Cr in the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24) as against a profit of INR 194.4 Cr in the previous fiscal. While the startup had registered a gain of INR 494.9 Cr from exception items in FY23, it incurred a loss of INR 21.8 Cr in FY24 from it, the startup’s filings with the MCA revealed. 

However, the startup’s EBITDA for the fiscal year stood at INR 73.4 Cr as against an EBITDA loss of INR 118.3 Cr in the fiscal prior, its annual report showed. 

The SaaS startup’s revenue from operations surged 11% to INR 2,196.3 Cr in FY24 from INR 1,985.4 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Including an other income of INR 45.6 Cr, Fractal’s total income for the fiscal year surged 10% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 2,241.9 Cr. 

However, the startup’s annual report for the fiscal year revealed that it managed to turn profitable on a standalone level. In FY24, Fractal’s standalone profit after tax (PAT) stood at INR 123 Cr as against a loss of INR 31.1 Cr. Its total income at a standalone level surged 12% YoY to INR 1,183 Cr.

Meanwhile, the startup’s annual report also mentioned that it converted into a public company in May 2024. 

“As the Company was about to reach the threshold of maximum number of members for private companies, the Board at its meeting held on March 04, 2024 considered and recommended to the shareholders for approval at their meeting held on March 28, 2024, the conversion of Company’s status from ‘Private company limited by shares’ to ‘Public company limited by shares’ and adoption of new set of articles and memorandum of association of the Company consequent to the conversion to a public company limited by shares,” Fractal’s annual report said. 

During the fiscal, the startup appointed angel investor Sasha Gulu Mirchandani as a non-executive director and Janaki Akella as an independent director on its board.

In September last year, it was reported that Fractal was looking to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for an $500 Mn IPO with SEBI by November 2024. However, there have been no further updates on this.

The IPO is likely to value the startup at $3.5 Bn. The SaaS startup entered the unicorn club in 2022 after raising $360 Mn from TPG Capital. 

AI To Be The Focal Point Of Fractal’s Expansion Strategy

Moving forward, the startup’s founders Srikanth Velamakanni and Pranay Agrawal anticipate an uptick in top line due to increasing AI adoption.

“As AI adoption accelerates, we anticipate a significant increase in AI spending as clients embark on their digital transformation journeys. To harness this momentum, we will continue to channel our growth drivers by building comprehensive products and solutions that serve our clients end-to-end,” the founders said in the annual report. 

Fractal acquired climate focussed AI startup Eugenie in June 2024. In the same month, it sold its AI-based investment platform Theremin.ai to QiCAP.Ai. 

Fractal’s bullish future projections come in the backdrop of AI emerging as the hottest sector across the globe. Saying that AI is writing the code for humanity in this century, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech at the inaugural AI Action Summit, held in Paris earlier this month, pointed out that the nascent tech can help transform millions of lives by improving health, education, agriculture and much more. 

As a result, companies are looking at external parties to expedite their AI adoption. According to Inc42’s annual investor survey “The Pulse Of Tech” for 2024, a large chunk of Indian companies are looking at AI solutions offered by established AI vendors or companies. 

In a bid to capitalise on this AI wave, Fractal’s founders said that the unicorn will look to make more investments in R&D to advance its capabilities. They said that Fractal will scale its operations through strategic M&A activities and partnerships with hyperscalers. 

It is pertinent to highlight that Fractal spent 7% of its revenue on AI R&D in FY24.

The startup launched GenAI-powered text-to-image generator Kalaido.ai, sales-oriented GenAI platform Flyfish and chatbot MarshallGoldsmith.ai during the year.

The startup also launched a medical assist multimodal model Vaidya in August 2024. The founder said would compete with state-of-the art multimodal models at answering complex questions in the medical domain,

Decoding Fractal’s Expenses

While the startup plans to double down on its AI capabilities in the run up to its IPO, it managed to curb the rise in its expenditure in FY24. Fractal’s total expenses rose a mere 1.1% to INR 2,250.6 Cr from INR 2,225.2 Cr in FY23. 

At INR 1,833.3 Cr, the startup spent the highest amount on its workforce. This was an increase of 4% from INR 1,767.2 Cr in FY23, indicative of an increase in the employee strength. 

At the end of the fiscal, Fractal’s employee count was at over 4,500. During ‘Startup Mahakumbh 2024’, Velamakanni said that Fractal was using an in-house built AI tool, Fractal 360, to streamline its hiring process. The tool generates GenAI-based questions for potential employees, catering to their strengths and weaknesses as well as the job description. 

Back then, the founder claimed that the startup hires 2,000 people every year and screens as many as 4 Lakh potential employees annually. He also said that the SaaS unicorn deploys Dexter, an AI agent, to streamline the employee experience. 

“We will continue hiring talent through robust and scalable channels such as Fractal 360 (our proprietary, AI powered hiring assessment platform), Imagineer Program (our campus recruitment program), lateral hiring program, and “return from career break” program to attract employees. We will continue to hire specialists across our career tracks, and train them through Fractal Analytics Academy (FAA) and Analytics Vidhya,” the company said in its annual report. 

Fractal allotted over 1.2 Lakh equity shares in FY24 under its ESOP schemes.

The post IPO-Bound Fractal Slips Into The Red In FY24, Reports INR 54.7 Cr Loss appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Travel tech company EaseMyTrip’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) crashed nearly 26% to INR 34.02 Cr in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 from INR 45.68 Cr in the year-ago quarter amid a degrowth in its top line.

However, PAT jumped 27% on a quarter-on-quarter basis from INR 26.79 Cr. Notably, this was the third consecutive profitable quarter for EaseMyTrip. The company slipped into the red in Q4 FY24 with a loss of INR 15 Cr.

The online travel aggregator saw its operating revenue slide 6% to INR 150.56 Cr in the December quarter from INR 160.78 Cr in the same quarter last year. On a sequential basis, it rose 4% from INR 144.67 Cr.

Had EaseMyTrip not shelled out INR 65 Cr as discounts to customers in the reported quarter, it would have clocked an operating revenue of INR 215.54 Cr.

Including other income of INR 3.24 Cr, the company’s total revenue stood at INR 153.81 Cr during the quarter under review.

In an investor presentation, EaseMyTrip said that its EBITDA stood at 51 Cr in Q3 FY25, up 21% from INR 42.29 Cr in the September quarter.

The air ticketing business continued to be the biggest revenue driver for EaseMyTrip. However,  revenue from this vertical slumped over 22% to INR 97.65 Cr in the reported quarter from INR 125.71 Cr in Q3 FY24. On a QoQ basis, it grew nearly 6% from INR 92.53 Cr.

Revenue from the hotels and packages segment surged 57% to INR 32.80 Cr in the October-December quarter from INR 20.89 Cr in the corresponding period last year. Revenue from this business was flat on a sequential basis. 

EaseMyTrip raked in INR 20.11 Cr from its other services segment in Q3 FY25, up 42% from INR 14.18 Cr in Q3 FY24 and 3% from INR 19.55 Cr in Q2 FY25.

The company’s gross booking revenue (GBR) stood at INR 2,148.86 Cr during the quarter ended December 2024. While hotel night booking on the platform zoomed 172% year-on-year to 2.5 Lakh, bookings in the train, buses and others segment grew 32% YoY to 3.6 Lakh. 

During Q3 FY25, EaseMyTrip diversified its offerings and expanded its product portfolio. In November 2024, The company forayed into the study tourism segment with the acquisition of Planet Education Australia.

A month later, OLX India partnered with EaseMyTrip to offer travel booking services on the OLX platform. 

Zooming Into Expenses

While EaseMyTrip’s sales took a beating, the company’s total expenses rose a little over 2% to INR 107.58 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 105 Cr in Q3 FY24.

Employee Costs: The spending under this head surged 19% YoY and 6% QoQ to INR 26.41 Cr during the quarter ended December 2024.

Advertising & Sales Promotion Expenses: EaseMyTrip spent INR 16.76 Cr in this bracket in Q3 FY25, down 4% from INR 17.48 Cr in Q3 FY24 and 32% from INR 24.47 Cr in Q2 FY25.

Payment Gateway Charges: The travel tech company paid INR 15.45 Cr in payment gateway charges in the reported quarter, up 29% YoY and 16% QoQ.

Founded in 2018 by the brother trio of Nishant, Rikant and Prashant Pitti, EaseMyTrip began its journey as an online travel agency but has since diversified its business to foray into insurtech and electric bus manufacturing.

In September last year, EaseMyTrip incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary Easy Green Mobility to foray into the electric bus manufacturing market. The company aims to operate over 2,000 ebuses across the country by 2027-28.

The same month, the company said it would acquire stakes in Rollins International and Pflege Home Healthcare Center, marking its foray into the medical tourism sector. Prior to that, EaseMyTrip also ventured into the insurtech sector with the launch of its new insurance arm, EaseMyTrip Insurance Broker.

It must be noted that EaseMyTrip cofounder Nishant Pitti stepped down as the company’s CEO in January 2025. He was succeeded by his brother Rikant Pitti. 

Ahead of the Q3 FY25 earnings announcement, shares of EaseMyTrip ended Friday’s trading session 2.61% lower at INR 11.94 apiece on the BSE.

The post EaseMyTrip Q3 Profit Slumps 26% YoY To INR 34 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Enterprise tech unicorn RateGain’s consolidated net profit surged 40% to INR 56.54 Cr in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25) from INR 40.42 Cr in the year-ago quarter on higher EBITDA margins driven by strategic investments in product innovation and partnerships.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, net profit rose over 8% from INR 52.20 Cr.

The travel tech SaaS company’s EBITDA zoomed 20% to INR 61.47 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 51.26 Cr in Q3 FY24. EBITDA margin rose to a record 22.1% during the quarter under review from 20.3% in the year-ago period. 

RateGain said that operating leverage is contributing to strong operating margin growth.

Its revenue from operations jumped nearly 11% to INR 278.70 Cr in the December quarter of FY25 from INR 252 Cr in the same quarter last year, with steady growth across marketing technology (martech) and desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) segments.

On a sequential basis, the company’s operating revenue remained flat.

Including other income of INR 20.32 Cr, total revenue stood at INR 299 Cr during the quarter under review.

The surge in sales outpaced the rise in expenditure. Total expenses went up 7% to INR 225.91 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 210.86 Cr in the year-ago period. Of this, RateGain spent INR 103.33 Cr on employee benefits expenses in the reported quarter.

For the nine months ended December 2024 (9M FY25), the company reported a consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of INR 154.12 Cr, a 62% jump from INR 95.37 Cr in the year-ago period. Operating revenue grew over 16% to INR 816 Cr in 9M FY25 from INR 701.22 Cr in 9M FY24. 

“Strong profitability metrics supported by improved positive cash flow generated from operating activities ability to drive revenue through multiple products by cross-selling & up-selling to existing marquee customers,” RateGain said in its Q3 & 9M FY25 investor presentation.

The company further said that constant product innovation is enabling it to build steady revenue streams. Its annual recurring revenue stood at INR 1,114.9 Cr during 9M FY25, while the loan-to-value (LTV) to customer acquisition cost (CAC) for the fiscal year came in at 14.2X.

“We continue to see sustainable growth, driven by marquee customers across verticals who are expanding their engagements and trusting RateGain’s ability to deliver excellence at scale through AI-driven innovation. With a robust deal pipeline and growing adoption of our AI-powered solutions in new market segments, we are confident in building on this momentum in the next fiscal year,” said Bhanu Chopra, founder and managing director of RateGain.

Meanwhile, RateGain continued to expand its workforce, which saw a 10.7% YoY increase with the total headcount standing at 826 as of December 31, 2024. The company also claimed that it has brought its attrition rate to record-low levels at 9.6%.

Shares of RateGain ended Friday’s trading session 1.03% lower at INR 626.80 apiece on the BSE.

The post RateGain Q3 Profit Zooms 40% YoY To INR 57 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

D2C brand Yu Foods’ operating revenue surged 103.9% to INR 15.7 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 7.7 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

However, net loss rose 80.5% to INR 11.2 Cr from INR 6.2 Cr in FY23. 

Founded in 2021 by Bharat Bhalla and Varun Kapur, Yu Foods offers breakfast, lunch and dinner meal bowls. It offers more than 25 instant food products, including noodles, pastas, desserts and halwa, among others. The startup initially launched instant cup noodles and pastas in its founding year and later forayed into ready-to-cook noodles, pastas, and beverages. 

Besides its own website, the startup sells its products via ecommerce and quick commerce channels. Its products are also available in 7,500 retail stores. 

According to the company’s regulatory filings, Yu Foods’ Amazon shipping expenses declined to INR 11.8 Lakh in FY24 from INR 14 Lakh in the previous fiscal year. Cofounder Bhalla told Inc42 that this decline was because the D2C brand shifted to the “Amazon Buying” model, under which the ecommerce giant purchases inventory in bulk and acts as a wholesaler. 

Similarly, its Unicommerce expense in FY24 declined to just INR 43,771 from INR 5.4 Lakh in FY23. Spending on Shiprocket too fell to INR 34,379 from INR 3 Lakh in FY23. 

Bhalla said this decline was because its own online channel contributed miniscule percentage of its revenue. Currently, Yu Foods earns 40% of its revenue from quick commerce, 10% from ecommerce channels, 35% from offline business, and the remaining 15% from airlines.

The cofounder said that the startup is on course to post a revenue of INR 40 Cr in FY25, and is currently clocking a monthly revenue of INR 5 Cr.

The D2C brand raised INR 55 Cr ($6.5 Mn) in its Series B funding round, led by Ashish Kacholia and Asian Paints Promoter Group, in October last year. Before that, it bagged $2.4 Mn in its Series A funding round from the same investors. 

Tracking Down Yu Foods’ Expenses

The startup’s total expenses zoomed 92.86% to INR 27 Cr in FY24 from INR 14 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Here is a quick glance at where the startup spent: 

Employee Benefit Expenses: The spending under the head rose 35.71% to INR 3.8 Cr in FY24 from INR 2.8 Cr in FY23. 

Marketing Expenses: Marketing expenses more than doubled to INR 5.7 Cr in FY24 from INR 2.6 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Selling & Distribution Expenses: The spending under this head grew 85.71% to INR 1.3 Cr from about 70 Lakh in FY23.

The post Yu Foods’ FY24 Revenue More Than Doubles To INR 15.7 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

IPO-bound Ola Consumer’s parent ANI Technologies reported a 57.46% decline in its consolidated net loss to INR 328.5 Cr in the financial year (2023-24) from INR 772.2 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

The decline in loss came on the back of a sharp 42.28% reduction in employee benefit expenses. 

While the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company managed to trim its loss, its top line also took a hit during the year under review. ANI Technologies’ operating revenue slipped 5.48% to INR 2,011.9 Cr in FY24 from INR 2,128.5 Cr in FY23.

The decline in revenue came amid rising competition in the ride-hailing industry, with the likes of Rapido and BluSmart taking a significant market share.

Ola Consumer earned about 92% of its revenue from the ‘sale of services’ segment in FY24.

In a statement, the company said that its EBITDA (excluding discontinued operations) grew to INR 271 Cr during the year from INR 87 Cr in FY23. 

According to its regulatory filing, the company discontinued the business of providing sales and services support for electric scooters during the year under review. This was done before Ola Electric’s IPO in August 2024. 

According to Inc42’s calculations, the company’s EBITDA loss stood at INR 34.3 Cr in FY24 as against an EBITDA loss of INR 371 Cr in FY23. EBITDA margin improved 15 percentage points to -2% from -17% in FY23. 

This comes at a time when the company is eyeing a public listing. In November last year, it changed its name from ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd to ANI Technologies Ltd. 

If the IPO materialises, Ola Consumer will become the second company founded by Aggarwal to go public. In August 2024, his electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ola Electric made its debut on the stock exchanges.

ANI Technologies has 21 subsidiaries, including OLA Fleet Technologies, OLA Financial Services, OLA Capital Services, OLA Stores Technologies, Geospoc Geospatial Services, among others. 

Last year, Aggarwal said that Ola Consumer will launch a number of new services like Ola Coin, UPI, dark stores, fulfillment centres, among others.

The company provides food delivery services on ONDC, and has recently begun piloting 10-minute food and grocery delivery in Bengaluru. 

Where Did Ola Consumer Spend?

The company’s expenditure for FY24 declined 16.3% to INR 2,106.7 Cr from INR 2,516.7 Cr in FY23. 

Employee Benefit Expenses: Ola Electric’s expenses under this head declined 42.3% in the year under review to INR 333.8 Cr from INR 578.3 Cr in FY23, largely due to layoffs. 

In January 2023, the Ola group fired about 200 employees across Ola Consumer, its financial services arm, and Ola Electric.

Following this, the company fired about 200 employees in a restructuring exercise in April 2024.

Marketing Expenses: Ola Consumer’s marketing and advertising expenses surged 163.55% to INR 107.6 Cr in FY24 from INR 40.6 Cr in FY23.

Commission Paid To Other Selling Agents: The spending under this head stood at INR 74.7 Cr. It spent nil amount on it in the previous fiscal year. This expense likely pertained to the company’s business of sale of insurance policies and providing vehicle financing via OLA Financial Services.

The post Ola Consumer’s FY24 Loss Declines 57% To INR 329 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Mamaearth parent Honasa Consumer reported a consolidated net profit of INR 26.02 Cr in the third quarter of fiscal year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25), a marginal 0.4% increase from INR 25.90 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

Sequentially, the company recovered from an INR 18.58 Cr loss. While EBITDA declined 24% YoY to INR 26 Cr, EBITDA margin also contracted to 5% from 7.1% in Q3 FY24. 

Despite the slide in EBITDA, the company claims to be back on a “growth trajectory” with a “gradual” scale up in general trend. 

Meanwhile, the top line saw a healthy upsurge in the quarter. Honasa’s revenue from operations grew 6% to INR 517.51 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 488.22 Cr in Q3 FY24. On a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, it rose 12% from INR 461.82 Cr. 

However, its underlying volume growth (UVG) stood at 1.5% YoY for the quarter, a fourth of its revenue growth. The company attributed this to a channel-mix impact due to a transition in its general trade. 

‘Project Neev’ To Improve Distribution

The said transition pertains to inventory correction under ‘Project Neev’, which Honasa started implementing in Q2 FY25. Under this, the company discontinued distribution of its products to distributors in its super stockist layer and some of its direct distributors and replaced them with higher quality or Tier-I distributors to service retailers across top 50 cities. 

At the end of the December quarter, the company said it has completed the appointment of the said Tier-I distributors. In its investor presentation, the company informed that these Tier-I distributors are mature FMCG/ BPC players. 

As a result, the company’s distributor channel now comprises 69% direct distributors and 31% super stockists. At the end of FY24, super stockists comprised 62% super stockists and 38% direct distributors.

“Consequent to the transition, sales return of INR 63.52 Cr has been approved for with resulting inventory/ right to return asset of INR 11.44 Cr (net provisions of INR 6.98 Cr) in the quarter ended September 30, 2024. As at December 31, 2024, the holding company has outstanding provision for sales return of INR 8.95 Cr with resulting right to return asset of INR 1.10 Cr (net provision of INR 1.5 Cr),” Honasa said. 

Project Neev not only hit the company’s bottom line in Q2 FY25 but also led to a war of words between it and the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF) in November. 

Back then, the AICPDF flagged large unsold inventory of Honasa lying with distributors and retailers. This, it claimed, was causing a financial burden of INR 300 Cr. It also said that besides the issue of “unsold stocks nearing expiry”, credit notes of about INR 50 Cr were unsettled, which was creating cash flow challenges and threatened the stability of the entire distribution network. However, Honasa denied the allegations then. 

In its earnings statement today, Honasa cofounder and CEO Varun Alagh said, “In Q3 FY25, we remained committed to long-term growth, advancing the strategic implementation of Project Neev to strengthen our offline distribution through direct distributors in the top 50 cities… As we scale, our vision remains centered on driving disruptive innovation, deepening offline penetration, and delivering unique value propositions to consumers.” 

Honasa’s ‘House Of Brands’ Play

The D2C company claimed that its flagship product, Mamaearth, grew in market share and household penetration during the quarter, reaching 2.17 Lakh FMCG retail outlets in India as of December 2024 and recorded a 22% YoY increase in its distribution. It also claimed that Mamaearth’s facewash gained 114 basis points (bps) and shampoo gained 20 bps in YoY value market share during the quarter. 

Besides Mamaearth, Honasa has The Derma Co., Aqualogica, BBlunt, BBLunt Salone and Dr. Sheth’s in its portfolio. The company said that the other brands “saw continued growth momentum with 30%+ YTD YoY growth”.

In Q1 FY25, Honasa’s board approved the amalgamation of two of its wholly owned subsidiaries – Just4Kids Services Private Limited and Fusion Cosmecutics Private Limited – with itself.

In its Q3 disclosure, the company informed that the amalgamation received the first motion approval by NCLT Delhi and NCLT Chandigarh and is awaiting response on its second motion application. 

Zooming Into Honasa’s Expenses

Honasa Consumer spent INR 507.31 Cr in Q3 FY24, up 9% YoY and 0.2% QoQ. 

Purchase Of Traded Goods: Expenses under this bucket rose 8.5% YoY to INR 148.30 Cr in Q3 F25. Sequentially, these expenses came down 22% from INR 189.22 Cr. While the company saw an increase of INR 45 Cr in its inventories of traded goods in the previous quarter, the same decreased by INR 7.19 Cr in Q3 FY25.

Employee Benefit Expenses: Employee costs rose 17% YoY to INR 51.79 Cr during the quarter under review. This included a reversal of share based payment of INR 4.75 Cr which the company said were reversed from the promoters of Momspresso’s ESOP expenses.  

For context, the promoters of the amputated subsidiary resigned from their employment with Honasa before fulfilling the vesting conditions of the company’s ESOP pool in FY24.

Ad Expenses: Mamaearth’s parent spent INR 177 Cr to promote itself during the quarter, a 6.6% increase from INR 166 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

Ahead of the release of the Q3 results, shares of Honasa ended today’s trading session 2.64% higher at INR 206.20 on the BSE. During the intraday trading, the company’s shares touched a fresh 52-week low of INR 197.15.

The post Honasa’s Q3 Profit Flat At INR 26 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

B2B travel tech company TBO Tek reported a nearly 2% decline in its consolidated net profit to INR 49.97 Cr in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25) from INR 50.79 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

The Delhi NCR-based company attributed the degrowth in its bottom line to INR 12.5 Cr forex loss incurred during the quarter under review.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, net profit slumped almost 17% from INR 60.08 Cr.

The company’s adjusted EBITDA jumped 26% to INR 75 Cr in the October-December quarter of FY25 from INR 59 Cr in the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal year.

Revenue from operations zoomed over 29% to INR 422.18 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 326.85 Cr in Q3 FY24 on the back of strong growth in the hotels and ancillaries segment, both in India and the international markets.

However, operating revenue declined over 6% on a sequential basis from INR 450.69 Cr.

Including other income of INR 16.57 Cr, the company’s total revenue stood at INR 438.76 Cr in the quarter ended December 2024.

Founded in 2006 by Ankush Nijhawan and Gaurav Bhatnagar, TBO Tek offers a wide range of travel services to travel agents and tour operators, such as hotel reservations, flight bookings, holiday packages, insurance cover, car rentals, among others.

“The saliency of our hotel and ancillaries segment continues to grow. We are looking to further drive share of wallet growth and cross-sell through initiatives like Platinum Desk for top hotels and ancillary accounts. With 120 new airports connectivity in the pipeline under the UDAN initiative as per Budget 2025 and an increase in TCS threshold to INR 10 Lakh, outbound travel is expected to get a boost,” said Nijhawan.

In an investor presentation, the company said that monthly transacting buyers on its platform rose 9% year-on-year to 28,657 in Q3 FY25. Meanwhile, the gross transaction volume from its India and international operations surged 26% to INR 7,166 Cr in the reported quarter from INR 5,678 Cr in Q3 FY24.

Revenue Breakdown

TBO Tek saw revenue from air ticketing business decline 12% to INR 73.61 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 83.57 Cr in the same quarter last year. On a QoQ basis, revenue from this vertical slid 12.3% from INR 84 Cr.

Hotels and packages business continued to be the key revenue driver for TBO Tek. It contributed INR 337.44 Cr to the company’s top line in Q3 FY25, up 45% from INR 233.04 Cr in the year-ago period. However, revenue from this segment declined 6% QoQ from INR 357.10 Cr.

TBO Tek said that it is witnessing broad-based growth in its international business, with Europe, the Middle East and Latin America demonstrating strong traction. During the December quarter, the company set up new subsidiaries in Indonesia, Greece and Israel to support future growth in the region.

Where Did TBO Tek Spend In Q3?

The company’s total expenditure grew at a faster pace than sales during the quarter under review. Overall expenses ballooned 37% to INR 385.53 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 281.70 Cr in Q3 FY24.  

However, total expenditure declined 2% from INR 394 Cr in the preceding September quarter.

Service Fees: The spending under this head rose nearly 19% to INR 125.52 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 105.84 Cr in the year-ago period. However, it declined over 13% from INR 144.57 Cr in the preceding quarter.

Employee Costs: TBO Tek spent INR 100.18 Cr on employees’ remuneration and other benefits in the reported quarter, up 34% from INR 74.82 Cr in Q3 FY24 and 6% from INR 94.55 Cr in Q2 FY25. 

Other Expenses: TBO Tek saw its spending under this head surge 46% to INR 128.70 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 88.40 Cr in the year-ago quarter. However, it did not give a break up of these expenses.

Shares of TBO Tek ended Wednesday’s (February 12) trading session 0.43% lower at INR 1,620.25 apiece on the BSE.

The post TBO Tek Q3 Profit Declines 2% YoY To INR 50 Cr appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Nasdaq-listed homegrown SaaS company Freshworks managed to narrow its consolidated net loss by 22% to $21.9 Mn in the fourth quarter of the calendar year 2024 (Q4 CY24) from $28.1 Mn in the year-ago period on the back of robust growth in its revenue.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, net loss declined 27% from $29.9 Mn.

The AI service software provider saw its total revenue jump 22% to $194.6 Mn during the quarter under review from $160.1 Mn in Q4 2023. Sequentially, total income grew 4% from $186.6 Mn.

For the full calendar year 2024, Freshworks reported a net loss of $95.4 Mn, down 31% from $137.4 Mn in the previous year. Total revenue zoomed 21% to $720.4 Mn in 2024 as compared to $596.4 Mn in 2023. 

In a post-earnings call, Freshworks CEO and president Dennis Woodside attributed the growth to the company’s investments in its employee experience (EX) business, which helped drive market momentum.

Several mid-market and enterprise customers are turning to Freshworks, moving away from larger IT players due to concerns about overcharging in the mid-market segment, Woodside said.

Freshworks added 2,600 customers in Q4 CY24 — the highest quarterly increase in the last four years — including the likes of New Balance,  New Balance, Rawlings Sporting Goods, Sophos, Onfido, and Mesa Airlines among others.

In its Q4 CY24 earnings release, the company said the number of customers contributing over $5K in annual recurring revenue (ARR) increased by 11% year-on-year to 22,558  during the quarter.

More than 60% of Freshworks’ ARR comes from mid-market and enterprise customers, which the company defines as organisations with 250 or more employees, the company said in an investor presentation.

Freshworks’ bread and butter customer experience business clocked an annual recurring revenue of $360 Mn in 2024, while its employee experience business surpassed $400 Mn in ARR.

The SaaS giant has lowered its revenue guidance for 2026, citing current market conditions. It expects the revenue growth guidance for CY25 to be in the range of 12-14%, which pegs its revenue between $809 Mn and $821 Mn.

Freshworks CEO Woodside had previously said that the company was targeting a revenue of $1 Bn by 2026. 

Founded in 2010 by Girish Mathrubootham and Shanmugam Krishnasamy, Freshworks provides a customer relationship management platform, primarily targeting small and medium businesses. 

It also offers a comprehensive suite of employee experience solutions, which includes IT service management and enterprise service management, along with customer experience solutions such as customer service, sales, and marketing products.

Freshworks has been undergoing internal restructuring and management changes over the last few months. In May 2024, Mathrubootham announced his resignation as the company’s CEO. 

During Q4 CY24, the company appointed Srinivasan Raghavan as its chief product officer and Venkitesh Subramanian as senior vice president of product management.

The post Freshworks Narrows Loss To $95 Mn In 2024, Revenue Up 21% appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Coworking space provider Awfis reported a consolidated net profit of INR 15.18 Cr in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25) as against a loss of INR 6.29 Cr in the year-ago quarter. 

However, its profit declined 61% from INR 38.67 Cr profit in Q2 FY25. While its operating EBITDA jumped 59% YoY to INR 107 Cr, its EBITDA margin jumped to 33.8% from 30.6% in the year-ago quarter.

Operating revenue increased on a year-on-year (YoY) as well as quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis. Awfis’ revenue from operations stood at INR 317.72 Cr in Q3 FY25, up 44% YoY and 9% QoQ. Its total expenses for the quarter rose 37% YoY and 10% QoQ to INR 317.18 Cr.

While Awfis earned INR 243.39 Cr from its coworking space on rent and allied services business, it earned INR 73.21 Cr from its construction and fit-out projects in the quarter. It realised a profit of INR 16.63 Cr from the former and INR 5.26 Cr from its construction projects business.  

At the end of the December quarter, Awfis operated 214 centres across nine Tier-I & II cities in India. With a chargeable area of 7.2 Mn sq ft and over 1.42 Lakh seats, the company claims to have the largest network of flexible workspace in India. Its active clients at the end of the quarter exceeded 3,000 with an average total tenure of 33 months.  

“Including fit-outs and LOIs (letter of intents), we now have over 160K seats covering 8 Mn sq ft. We remain confident in reaching our target of 135K operational seats by March 2025. Our strategy continues to focus on asset-light growth with 73% of new seat additions signed under the Managed Office (MA) model. This approach allows us to maximise return on investment while scaling efficiently,” Awfis’ chairman and managing director Amit Ramani said. 

In its investor presentation, Awfis said it has launched a new centre of about 48K sq ft in Fun Republic mall in Lucknow. Besides, it also claimed to have increased its presence in Tier-II cities by about 29%, growing from 17 centres to 22 since December 2023.

Moving forward, Awfis will look to expand into “key micro-markets in Tier-I cities and upcoming Tier-II cities”, along with making investments in markets with “high demand and stronger long-term returns”. Besides, it also plans to increase its focus on Awfis Transform, Awfis Care and allied services moving forward. 

The company made its public market debut in May last year, raising INR 117.03 Cr via a fresh issue of shares. Of the total sum raised, Awfis has utilised INR 51.52 Cr for working capital requirements and INR 29.29 Cr for its capital expenditure towards establishment of new centres. 

Besides, Awfis’ IPO comprised an offer for sale (OFS) component of up to 1.23 Cr shares.  Peak XV Partners and Bisque Limited were among the investors which sold stakes via the OFS. Peak XV further offloaded Awfis’ shares worth INR 379.8 Cr via multiple bulk deals in December 2024.

Last month, Awfis received a request from Peak XV Partners, which holds 3.27% stake in the company, seeking its reclassification from ‘Promoter and Promoter Group’ category shareholders to ‘Public’ category shareholders. The company’s board approved the same on February 11. 

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Online travel aggregator Yatra’s consolidated profit after tax (PAT) skyrocketed 845% to INR 10 Cr in the December quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25) from INR 1.05 Cr in the year-ago period, led by robust growth in its hotels and packages business.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, PAT grew 37% from INR 7.34 Cr.

Founded in 2006 by  Dhruv Shringi, Manish Amin and Sabina Chopra, Yatra offers information, pricing, availability, and booking facilities for domestic and international air travel, domestic and international hotel bookings, holiday packages, buses, trains, in-city activities, inter-city and point-to-point cabs, homestays and cruises.

Unlike its competitors EaseMyTrip, ixigo and MakeMyTrip, which focus on B2C customers, Yatra targets B2E and B2B2C customers.

The company’s EBITDA jumped 207% year-on-year to INR 14.6 Cr in the third quarter of FY25.

The corporate travel services provider saw its operating revenue zoom 113% to INR 235.25 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 110.34 Cr in the year-ago quarter. Sequentially, operating revenue fell marginally by 0.4% from INR 236.40 Cr.

Including other income of INR 6.04 Cr, Yatra’s total revenue stood at INR 241.30 Cr in the third quarter of the ongoing fiscal year, up 102% from INR 119.20 Cr in the corresponding quarter last year.

Yatra cofounder and CEO Shringi said the corporate travel business continued to be a key growth driver. The company onboarded 50 new corporate clients in Q3 FY25—a quarterly record—with a billing potential of about INR 280 Cr.

In September last year, Yatra acquired Globe All India Services Limited (Globe Travels) for INR 128 Cr in an all-cash deal. The company said then that the acquisition of Globe Travels would add 350 new corporate clients to its existing customer base, taking the total tally of corporate customers to 1,200.

“Following our successful acquisition of Globe All India Services Limited, the integration efforts are progressing ahead of schedule, and we are already seeing early synergies, particularly in supplier consolidation, operational streamlining, and technology adoption,” said Shringi.

Yatra’s cash and cash equivalent and term deposits stood at INR 182.8 Cr as on December 31, 2024.

Shares of Yatra gained momentum following the company’s strong Q3 performance, surging over 6% in morning trade today (February 11) to reach the day’s high of INR 99.30 apiece on the BSE.

Segment Revenue

Yatra’s air ticketing business contributed INR 46.39 Cr to the company’s operating revenue in Q3 FY25, a growth of 12% from INR 41.54 Cr in the year-ago quarter. Sequentially, operating revenue from this vertical grew 8% from INR 42.96 Cr.

On the other hand, the hotels and packages segment’s revenue zoomed over 3.73X to INR 166.08 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 44.50 Cr in the December quarter last year. However, sequentially, revenue from this vertical declined 2.5% from INR 170.37 Cr.

Revenue from other services declined, albeit marginally, to INR 7.11 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 7.36 Cr in the year-ago quarter. On a QoQ basis, the business reported a 25% decline in revenue from INR 9.46 Cr.

Where Did Yatra Spend In Q3?

The surge in revenue outpaced the rise in expenditure for the listed OTA. Overall expenses went up 98% to INR 231.23 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 117 Cr in the year-ago quarter. However, the company managed to bring down its costs by 2.4% from INR 236.96 Cr on a sequential basis.

Service Cost: The spending under this expense head surged 387% to INR 131.13 Cr in the quarter ended December 2024 from INR 26.90 Cr in the year-ago period. However, this spending declined 8% QoQ from INR 142.77 Cr.

Employee Cost: Yatra’s employee benefit expenses rose 21% YoY and 9% QoQ to INR 38.96 Cr during the quarter under review.

Marketing & Sales Promotion Expenses: The company spent INR 11.40 Cr under this bucket in Q3 FY25, up 6% from 10.73 Cr in the same quarter last year. Sequentially, this spending declined marginally from INR 11.66 Cr in the preceding September quarter.

Payment Gateway Charges: The listed OTA platform spent INR 10 Cr on payment gateway charges during the quarter under review, down 21% from INR 12.72 Cr spent in this bracket in the year-ago period.

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Market intelligence company Tracxn reported a net profit of INR 1.42 Cr in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25), down 36% from INR 2.22 Cr in the same quarter of previous fiscal. 

The company had posted a loss of INR 4.66 Cr in the preceding September quarter of FY25. In Q2 FY25, Tracxn’s management “reassessed the recoverability of deferred tax assets on carry forward business losses based on the availability of future taxable profits and reversed deferred tax assets”. This led to an additional burden of INR 6.35 Cr on its bottom line. 

“Management has reviewed the recoverability of such deferred tax assets as at December 31, 2024 and concluded that no further adjustment is required in this regard,” the company said.

Meanwhile, its revenue from operations increased 1.2% to INR 21.39 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 21.14 Cr in the year-ago quarter. On a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, the company’s top line was almost flat. 

Including other income of INR 4.9 Lakh and other gain component of INR 1.45 Cr, the company’s total income for the quarter stood at INR 22.90 Cr. 

However, EBITDA declined 76% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 45 Lakh during the quarter under review from INR 1.86 Cr in the year-ago quarter. EBITDA margin also contracted to 2.09% from 8.80% in Q3 FY24. 

Founded in 2013 by Neha Singh and Abhishek Goyal, Tracxn is a private equity market research and data platform that tracks company financials, private funding and cap tables of entities worldwide. 

It claims to host detailed shareholding of over 3.13 Lakh companies from over 15 countries on its platform. At 1,699, Tracxn added the highest number of customers in Q3. 

The company claims to have realised a 16% YoY increase in its India revenue to INR 24.7 Cr in the first nine months of FY25, while revenue from international customers dipped 6% YoY to INR 38.6 Cr.

The company said that the growth spurt from the India business came on the back of the launch of “vertical teams” in the past nine months. 

The company launched a new platform, Tracxn Lite, which gives users a chance to explore curated data at no cost and comes with strict usage limits. It claims that this platform has got more than 1 Lakh signups since launch and has a monthly active user base of 23,000.

Besides, it also claims to be seeing increased volume of inbound leads in its verticals dedicated to startups, accelerators, incubators and investment banks. 

While the company’s top line grew steadily in the past quarter, its total expenses also increased 8.5% YoY and 2.3% QoQ to INR 20.98 Cr. A bulk of its expenses were centred around its employees, with it spending INR 18.64 Cr on its workforce. This marked a 9.6% YoY and 2.4% QoQ increase.

In the quarter, Tracxn expanded its employee stock option plan by allotting 4,47,036 equity shares to eligible employees under Employee Stock Option Plan 2016. 

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Omnichannel beauty retailer Nykaa’s consolidated net profit surged 51% to INR 26.4 Cr in the third quarter of the financial year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25) from INR 17.5 Cr in the year-ago period on the back of strong growth across beauty and fashion verticals.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, net profit rose 104% from INR 12.97 Cr.

Revenue from operations jumped 26.74% to INR 2,267.2 Cr in the September-December quarter from INR 1,788.8 Cr in the corresponding period last year. Sequentially, it increased by 20.93% from INR 1,874.7 Cr. 

Including other income of INR 5.6 Cr, the beauty and ecommerce major’s total revenue stood at INR 2,272.7 Cr for the quarter ended December 2024. 

Its cumulative customer base across the beauty and fashion segments stood at 40 Mn in Q3 FY25, a 29% year-on-year increase.

In an investor presentation, the Falguni Nayar-led company said it clocked a consolidated gross merchandise value (GMV) of INR 4,527.9 Cr in Q3 FY25, a jump of 25% from INR 3,617.9 Cr in the year-ago period. Meanwhile, its EBITDA zoomed 42% to INR 140.8 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 98.8 Cr in Q3 FY24.  

BPC Segment Steals The Spotlight

The beauty and personal care (BPC) segment continued to be the key revenue driver for Nykaa, contributing INR 2,060 Cr to the top line during the quarter under review. This was a 27% increase from INR 1,622.7 Cr in Q3 FY24 and a nearly 21% jump from INR 1,702.9 Cr in Q2 FY25.

The strong growth came on the back of a 32% jump in the BPC segment’s GMV to INR 3,389.9 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 2,569.6 Cr in the same quarter last year.

Meanwhile, annual unique transacting customers across Nykaa, Retail and Nykaa Man surged 22% to 13.7 Mn in Q3 FY25 from 11.7 Mn in Q3 FY24.

Nykaa currently operates 221 beauty stores — such as Nykaa On Trend, Nykaa Luxe and Nykaa Kiosk — spanning 2.1 Lakh square feet in 73 cities, of which 12 stores were opened in the reported quarter.

The BPC major said that 70% of orders for beauty products were delivered within the same/next day in the top 110 cities in the quarter ended December 2024. It must be noted that Nykaa is also looking to foray into 10-minute deliveries for beauty products. 

In October 2024, it was reported that the omnichannel beauty retailer piloted its 10-minute delivery service in select pin codes of Mumbai for 5% of its SKU base. The same month, the company’s founder and CEO Nayar said that Nykaa will focus on addressing consumer demand for quick deliveries once the sector scales to a certain level.

Fashion Delivers Strong Growth Amid Tough Macro Environment

Nykaa raked in INR 199 Cr from its fashion segment in the September to December quarter, up 21% from 164 Cr in the year-ago period. The revenue growth outpaced the rise in GMV, which rose 8% year-on-year to INR 1,130 Cr in Q3 FY25.

The growth was driven by strong marketing income from events like Nykaaland and Nykaa Wali Shaadi and higher services-related income.

Despite the growth, Nykaa incurred a loss of INR 25.41 Cr from this segment during the quarter.

Nykaa also earned a revenue of INR 8.2 Cr from its international beauty business during the quarter under review, a whopping 176% increase from INR 3 Cr in Q3 FY24. However, this division reported a loss of INR 7.96 Cr in Q3 FY25.

Zooming Into Expenses

In line with the surge in revenue, Nykaa’s total expenses rose nearly 26% to INR 2,228.18 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 1,769.89 Cr in the same quarter last year. On a QoQ basis, total expenditure rose almost 20% from INR 1,858.93 Cr.

Purchase Of Traded Goods: The BPC major managed to control the rise in expenditure under this head during the quarter under review. This spending rose a little over 4% to INR 1,284.96 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 1,232.25 Cr in Q3 FY24.

Employee Costs: Nykaa spent INR 174.60 Cr towards employees’ remuneration and other benefits in Q3 FY25, an 18% increase over INR 147.93 Cr spent in the year-ago quarter.

Shares of FSN Ecommerce Ventures, the parent of Nykaa, ended Monday’s trading session 2.25% lower at INR 169.60 apiece on the BSE.

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Kids-focussed omnichannel retailer FirstCry’s consolidated net loss narrowed 69.5% to INR 14.78 Cr in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2024-25 (Q3 FY25) from INR 48.41 Cr in the year-ago quarter on the back of healthy growth in its top line.

Sequentially, net loss contracted 76.5% from INR 62.85 Cr.

Revenue from operations surged 14.3% to INR 2,172.30 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 1,900.19 Cr in Q3 FY24. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, it went up 14% from INR 1,904.91 Cr.

Including other income of INR 44.27 Cr, the company’s total revenue stood at INR 2,216.58 Cr during the quarter ended December 31, 2024.

Its consolidated adjusted EBITDA stood at INR 293 Cr during the quarter under review, up 30% year-on-year.

“Q3 FY25 has been our best quarter in terms of profitability in the last 4 years. We have achieved the highest adjusted EBITDA for our consolidated business as well as India multi-channel business in the last 4 years,” the company said in its investor presentation.

The surge in revenue was driven by a strong growth in FirstCry’s India multichannel business’ annual unique transacting customers (UTC), which rose 17% to 9.8 Mn in Q3 FY35 from 8.4 Mn in the corresponding quarter last year.

The company processed 11.1 Mn orders in the reported quarter, up 13.8% from 9.8 Mn orders processed in Q3 FY24. The business had a gross merchandise value of INR 2,566.8 Cr in the September-December quarter, up 14% from INR 2,251.1 Cr in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

FirstCry raked in INR 1,510.6 Cr in revenue from its India operations in Q3 FY25, up 15% from INR 1,312.9 Cr in Q3 FY24.

Meanwhile, revenue from the company’s roll-up business GlobalBees rose 13% to INR 422.3 Cr in Q3 FY25 from INR 374.4 Cr in the same period last year. The subsidiary’s adjusted EBITDA zoomed 2.6X to INR 6 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 2.3 Cr in Q3 FY24.

FirstCry strengthened its roll-up business in Q2 FY25. In September 2024, the company raised its stake in Frootle India and Wellspire India. In the same month, it also infused INR 8 Cr into The Butternut Co and INR 4.5 Cr into Dynamic IT Solution.

Further, the company’s international business is growing sustainably on the back of improving margins. The international business contributed INR 261.4 Cr to its revenue in Q3 FY25, up 13% from INR 230.8 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

Where Did FirstCry Spend In Q3?

The growth in the top line outpaced the rise in expenditure for FirstCry during the quarter under review. Total expenses grew 12% to INR 2,064.42 Cr during the quarter ended December 2024 from INR 1,841.56 Cr in the same quarter last year. Sequentially, it rose 11.7% from INR 1,847.88 Cr.

Purchase Of Stock-In-Trade: The company spent INR 1,258.41 Cr under this head in Q3 FY25, up 16.2% from INR 1,082.83 Cr in the year-ago period. On a QoQ basis, spending under this bracket declined 2.4% from INR 1,289.14 Cr

Employee Cost: FirstCry’s employee benefit expenses rose 2.4% YoY and 7.4% QoQ to INR 177.27 Cr during the quarter under review. Of this, it spent INR 28.32 Cr on employee share-based payment expenses.

Cost Of Materials Consumed: FirstCry spent INR 192.83 Cr on the cost of materials in the December quarter of FY25, up 23.5% from INR 156.11 Cr Cr in Q3 FY24.

The board of FirstCry has approved an investment of INR 299.59 Cr in its subsidiary Digital Age Retail Private Limited by way of subscription to equity shares, it said in an exchange filing. Digital Age is into multi-brand retailing and operates FirstCry’s online platform and mobile application.

Digital Age will use the fresh capital for setting up new modern stores, towards lease payments for existing identified stores and repayment of dues worth INR 45 Cr owed to Brainbees Solutions Limited, the parent company of FirstCry.

Ahead of Q3 results, shares of FirstCry ended Friday’s (February 8) trading session 9.87% lower at INR 417.90 on the BSE.

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