News on Medial

Related News

Baron and Invesco mark up Pine Labs’ valuation

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Baron and Invesco mark up Pine Labs’ valuation
Medial

US-based investment firms Baron Funds and Invesco have marked up the valuation of fintech unicorn Pine Labs. While Baron increased its valuation to $5.8 billion, Invesco marked the firm’s value up to $4.8 billion as of December 2023. Earlier, Baron Funds valued the firm at $5.3 billion in September last year whereas Invesco cut its valuation to $3.9 billion as of October 31. Invesco had last invested $100 million in Pine Labs in September 2021 while Baron Capital led a $285 million round in the fintech unicorn in May. ET reported the development first via regulatory filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Pine Labs has been facing ups and downs in its fair valuation since last year. For the record, Fidelity marked up its stake value in July last year but later slashed its valuation to $3 billion from $4.7 billion as of October. Pine Labs’ revenue continued to climb in FY23 as its collection spiked 56% to Rs 1,588 crore. However, its losses still not tapering down and grew by 12% to Rs 227 crore. The firm is yet to file its FY24 numbers. Pine Labs has been trying to go public for the past few years as its backers including Peak XV Partners are eyeing an exit. Last year, it finalized bankers for an IPO in the US but the attempt didn’t materialize even though the firm’s chief executive Rau refuted the reports of delaying the public listing plan on NASDAQ. On the lines of other large fintechs such as Groww and Razorpay, Pine Labs is seeking to move its domicile to India which appears to have a better public market sentiment for tech companies. Besides Pine Labs, Swiggy, Meesho, FirstCry and Ola Electric also saw markups in their valuation in the last six months.

Pine Labs India posts Rs 1,384 Cr revenue in FY24; losses jump 3X

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
Pine Labs India posts Rs 1,384 Cr revenue in FY24; losses jump 3X
Medial

The Indian unit of merchant commerce and payments platform Pine Labs has reported flat revenue in the fiscal year ending March 2024. However, the Delhi-based firm’s losses swelled 3X in this period. Pine Labs’s operating revenue increased modestly by 2.8% to Rs 1,317 crore in FY24 from Rs 1,281 crore in FY23, its annual financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies show. Caveat: Pine Labs is registered in Singapore and has not yet submitted its FY24 results there. Based on the previous fiscal year’s report, the parent entity is expected to post approximately Rs 400 crore more or over Rs 1,700 crore in operating revenue in the last fiscal year. As for the revenue channels of Pine Labs’ Indian entity, income from transaction processing and settlement was the main contributor, accounting for 61% of total operating revenue, which rose a modest 1.5% to Rs 805 crore in FY24. Income from digitization and services provided at petroleum outlets amounted to Rs 67 crore during the same period. Pine Labs also offers gifting solutions through Qwikcilver, Pine Perks, and Google Wallet. Income from this segment declined by 44.5% to Rs 111 crore in FY24. Revenue from device sales, plastic cards, and other miscellaneous sources brought the total revenue to Rs 1,384 crore during the last fiscal year, compared to Rs 1,328 crore in FY23. In terms of cost breakdown, Pine Labs allocated 38.5% of its total expenditure to employee benefits, which grew by 3% to Rs 625 crore in FY24, including Rs 58 crore in non-cash ESOP expenses. Legal and professional fees were the next largest expense category. Other significant costs included materials, travel, advertising, e-commerce site listings, database communication, and repairs, bringing total expenditures up by 15.8% to Rs 1,624 crore in FY24. FY23-FY24 FY23 FY24 EBITDA Margin 14.91% 10.55% Expense/₹ of Op Revenue ₹1.09 ₹1.23 ROCE -1.65% -7.87% The modest growth in scale, combined with a nearly 16% rise in expenditure, led Pine Labs to report a more than threefold increase in losses, reaching Rs 187 crore in FY24 compared to Rs 56 crore in FY23. Its ROCE and EBITDA margin stood at -7.87% and 10.55%, respectively. On a per-unit basis, Pine Labs spent Rs 1.23 to earn a rupee in FY24. Pine Labs recently received approval from a Singapore court to relocate its domicile to India. It also obtained initial approval from the National Company Law Tribunal to merge its entities in India and Singapore. Pine Labs has been pursuing an initial public offering (IPO) for several years. Last year, the company appointed bankers for a U.S. IPO, but the attempt did not materialize. While the firm has not yet confirmed a listing timeline, it is likely to debut on one of the Indian stock exchanges sometime in the next fiscal year (FY26).

ShareChat’s revenue grows 33% in FY24 to Rs 718 Cr

EntrackrEntrackr · 7m ago
ShareChat’s revenue grows 33% in FY24 to Rs 718 Cr
Medial

Mohalla Tech, the parent entity of the vernacular social media platform ShareChat and short video entertainment app Moj, has registered 33% year-on-year growth during the fiscal year ended March 2024. Its adjusted EBITDA loss also plummeted by 67% in the same period. According to the company's press release, Mohalla Tech’s revenue from operations increased to Rs 718 crore in FY24 from Rs 540 crore in FY23. Revenue from live streaming contributed 56% of the company's total operating income, which grew by 41.4% to Rs 403 crore in FY24. Advertising accounted for the remaining share, which saw a 23.5% year-on-year growth to Rs 315 crore in FY24. ShareChat also added a non-operating income of Rs 29 crore mainly from interest and gain on financial assets which tallied the overall revenue to Rs 747 crore in the last fiscal year. For the social media firm, server cost was the largest cost center in FY24. As per Sharechat’s chief financial officer Manohar Charan, the firm managed to reduce this cost by 50% in FY24. Sharechat has managed to reduce its employee benefits cost by 17% to Rs 580 crore in FY24. This includes Rs 126 crore as ESOP (non-cash). Its advertising, legal, travel, and other overheads took the overall operating expenses to Rs 1540 crore in FY24 from Rs 3119 crore in FY23. In calculating the overall cost, we have excluded all non-cash components, including interest, provisions, foreign exchange (FX) losses, depreciation, and ESOP expenses for both FY24 and FY23. The 33% growth and controlled server cost helped Mohalla Tech to reduce its adjusted EBITDA losses by 67% to Rs 793 crore in FY24 from Rs 2400 crore in FY23. Notably, the net consolidated losses of the firm stood at Rs 1,898 crore in FY24 down from Rs 5,143 crore in FY23. Backed by the likes of Temasek Holdings, Google, Twitter, The Times Group, Tiger Global, Snap, Lightspeed, and Elevation Capital, ShareChat claims to have more than 325 million monthly active users (MAUs) across all its platforms. Its short video app Moj boasts a monthly active user base of nearly 160 million. The company recently expanded its debt round to $65 million, with a $16 million infusion from Singapore-based EDBI. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, ShareChat has raised around $1.8 billion. However, it saw a major haircut in valuation to less than $2 billion from $5 billion during its last fundraise in June 2022. As part of its mid-year performance cycle, the company also let go of 5% of its workforce in August this year. In 2023, ShareChat implemented several cost-cutting measures and laid off 700 employees across two phases.

Teachmint revenue grows 2X in FY24, losses down to Rs 82 Cr

EntrackrEntrackr · 7m ago
Teachmint revenue grows 2X in FY24, losses down to Rs 82 Cr
Medial

SaaS-based edtech firm Teachmint improved its financial performance in the last fiscal year, doubling its operating scale while reducing year-on-year losses by more than 39%. However, the Lightspeed-backed company has yet to achieve significant scale. Teachmint’s revenue from operations spiked to Rs 17.1 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2024 from Rs 8.15 crore in FY23, its consolidated financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies show. Teachmint sells education software solutions through subscriptions to schools and teachers. The sale of software solutions accounted for 73% of the operating revenue which increased by 56% to Rs 12.5 crore in FY24. The rest of the income is derived from the sale of devices like biometrics, interactive flat panels, GPS devices, among others. The Bengaluru-based company firm managed to control its overall cost, reduced by 26.6% to Rs 160 crore in FY24 from Rs 218 crore in FY23. Key areas of cost reduction include employee benefits, marketing, and IT which dwindled by 21.2%, 63.6%, and 9.1% respectively. The 2X surge and controlled expenditure helped Teachmint reduce its losses by 39.2% to Rs 110 crore during the last fiscal year from Rs 181 crore in FY23. Excluding non-cash ESOP costs, the company’s losses stood at Rs 82 crore for the fiscal year ending March 2024. Its ROCE and EBIDTA margins stood at -24.7% and -198%, respectively. On a unit level, the company spent Rs 9.36 to earn a rupee in FY24. Importantly, the firm has a total current assets of Rs 440 crore including Rs 34 crore of cash and bank balances in the last fiscal year. The company’s transformation from pre-revenue to a significant revenue jump is largely driven by shifting its focus to digitize schools. Entrackr reported about the strategic move in April last year. Teachmint faced significant challenges in FY24, including laying off over 70 employees. It has raised over $100 million in funding, with a $78 million Series B round in October 2021 at a valuation of $500 million. However, it has not raised any additional funding in the last three years. Its competitor Classplus achieved a two-fold revenue increase to Rs 213 crore in FY24, while its newer rival, Lead School, recorded 25% growth to Rs 370 crore in revenue in the same period.

Download the medial app to read full posts, comements and news.