Battery Smart’s revenue triples in FY24 but losses widen over 2X

Entrackr · 2d

Battery Smart, a battery-swapping network for electric two- and three-wheelers, recorded a three-fold increase in revenue for the fiscal year ending March 2024. However, its losses also doubled as the Gurugram-based company aggressively pursued scale. Battery Smart’s operating revenue soared 193% to Rs 164 crore in FY24 from Rs 56 crore in FY23, as per its consolidated financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The company made additional Rs 23 crore from interest on financial assets which pushed its total income to Rs 187 crore in FY24. On the expense side, depreciation charges ballooned 3.8X to Rs 85 crore, while finance costs rose nearly 3.75x to Rs 45 crore. Employee benefit expenses increased 95.2% to Rs 41 crore. Interestingly, advertising expenses fell by 60% to Rs 8 crore during the said fiscal year. Overall, Battery Smart’s total expenditure more than doubled to Rs 327 crore in FY24 from Rs 125 crore in FY23. Despite strong top-line growth, Battery Smart’s losses widened significantly. The company posted a net loss of Rs 140 crore in FY24, more than double the Rs 61 crore loss in FY23. Its Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) and EBITDA margin stood at -18.34% and -5.35%, respectively. On a unit basis, the company spent Rs 1.99 to earn a rupee in operating revenue. As of March 2024, the Gurugram-based firm reported current assets worth Rs 328 crore including Rs 107 crore in cash and bank balance. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Battery Smart has raised a total of approx $192 million of funding till date, having Tiger Global and Blume Ventures as its lead investors. Its co-founders Pulkit Khurana and Siddhart Sikka together own 28.5% of the company. Battery Smart remains one of the better positioned firms to benefit from the increased electrification of mobility in India, particularly two and three wheelers. The firm has incurred high costs as it establishes the best SOP and learns, never an easy task in a complex market like India. What probably helps it is the almost complete focus on B2B segments. The biggest risk factor of course remains the pushback from large manufacturers to have proprietary batteries, or a preference to build their own swapping networks as seen in the case of Honda recently. However, Battery Smart continues to have a lot going for it particularly in the three wheeler segment, where the swapping model trumps charging for now, by saving time and ensuring higher usage of the vehicle.