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FabHotels gross revenue crosses Rs 550 Cr in FY24, losses widen 23%

EntrackrEntrackr · 5m ago
FabHotels gross revenue crosses Rs 550 Cr in FY24, losses widen 23%
Medial

FabHotels gross revenue crosses Rs 550 Cr in FY24, losses widen 23% Casa2 Stays, the parent firm of FabHotels, reported a 34% increase in gross revenue for the fiscal year ending March 2024. However, its loss rose by 23%, driven by a twofold increase in employee benefit expenses. FabHotels’ gross revenue increased to Rs 552 crore in FY24 from Rs 412 crore in the previous fiscal year (FY23), according to its financial statement sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The revenue for FY23 appears different this year as it marks FabHotels’ first set of financial statements prepared in compliance with Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS). FabHotels, a budget hotel chain with over 600 properties across more than 50 cities in India, generated 99.4% of its gross revenue from accommodation bookings. Gross revenue increased by 33.35% to Rs 549 crore in FY24. Meanwhile, other revenue sources contributed Rs 3.3 crore. The company also recorded an additional income of Rs 11 crore from interest on deposits and liabilities written off, which pushed its overall revenue to Rs 563.6 crore in the last fiscal year. Accommodation expenses remained the largest cost component forming 74% of the overall cost, which grew by 32% to Rs 435 crore. FabHotels’ employee costs shot up 2X to Rs 92 crore in FY24. This includes Rs 15 crore as ESOP cost. Its commission expenses rose by 8% to Rs 27 crore, while other costs added Rs 34 crore. Overall, total expenses grew by 38.5% to Rs 588 crore in FY24 from Rs 424.7 crore in FY23. The two-fold jump in employee benefits led FabHotel to increase its losses by 23% to Rs 114 crore in FY24, compared to Rs 93 crore in FY23. Its ROCE and EBITDA Margin were recorded at -84.09% and -19.52%, respectively. On a unit basis, the company spent Rs 1.06 to earn a rupee of revenue. At the end of FY24, FabHotel’s current assets stood at Rs 172 crore, including cash and bank balances worth Rs 94 crore. FabHotel has raised around $70 million to date. Accel is the largest external stakeholder with 21.39% followed by Goldman Sachs. FabHotels competes directly with Treebo and Bloom Hotels. In FY24, Treebo surpassed Rs 100 crore in revenue, while Bloom Hotels achieved a 73.6% increase in operational revenue to Rs 250 crore and recorded a profit of Rs 14 crore. FabHotels, with its budget offerings and reach, faces a moment of truth to deliver sustainable profitability that can power future growth. The hospitality sector leaves very little margin for major misses now. FabHotels has placed its bets, with little leeway to change much now. Judgement awaits in the next few months and year, perhaps.

Rippling targets 2,000 employees in India after $450 Mn funding

EntrackrEntrackr · 1m ago
Rippling targets 2,000 employees in India after $450 Mn funding
Medial

Title: Rippling targets 2,000 employees in India after $450 Mn funding Global HRtech company Rippling has expanded its presence in India with the opening of a second office in Bengaluru. The development follows its recent $450 million Series G funding round, which valued the company at $16.8 billion. Rippling plans to increase its workforce in India from 1,000 to 2,000 employees over the next three years, the company said in a press release. The new office spans 100,000 square feet at Embassy Tech Village, a major IT park in the city, and will accommodate teams across engineering, product, sales, and customer support. “Bangalore has always been a superpower for Rippling,” said Matt MacInnis, Rippling’s Chief Operating Officer. “We grew from 450 employees last year to over 1,000 today, and we’re continuing to scale rapidly. We take on some of our most important product work here, and we intend to keep expanding the autonomy and scope of this team.” Rippling lets businesses manage HR, IT, and Finance in one place across the globe. It combines systems like payroll, expenses, benefits, and device management into a single platform. This allows companies to manage and automate the entire employee lifecycle from one system. Founded in 2016 by Parker Conrad and Indian-origin entrepreneur Prasanna Shankar, the company has offices in San Francisco, New York, Austin, London, Dublin, Sydney, and Bengaluru. Shankar, however, departed in July 2020 and went on to launch the crypto startup 0xPPL in January 2023. Since launching in India in 2017, Rippling has hired more than 20 former founders and entrepreneurs in the country to strengthen its leadership bench. Key hires include Ajay Chandra, principal engineer and former co-founder of Infibeam, and Nimish Bhonsale, senior director of engineering and former co-founder of Elda Health. In 2024, Rippling appointed former Walmart executive Mrinal Chatterjee as its country head. Rippling claims to have crossed $100 million in annual recurring revenue and now supports over 20,000 customers through its growing portfolio of more than 20 products across HR, IT, and finance management. Its investor base includes Y Combinator, Elad Gil, Sands Capital, GIC, Goldman Sachs Growth, Coatue, Founders Fund, Greenoaks, and Dragoneer.

Fasal reports Rs 34 Cr revenue in FY24; earns 91% from fruit sales

EntrackrEntrackr · 11m ago
Fasal reports Rs 34 Cr revenue in FY24; earns 91% from fruit sales
Medial

Agritech startup Fasal raised $12 million led by TDK Ventures and British International Investment (BII) in December last year. The significant funding seems to have given cushion to the six-year-old firm which earned only Rs 58 crore since its inception in 2018. Fasal’s revenue from operations increased 89% to Rs 34 crore in FY24 from Rs 18 crore in FY23, as shown in its annual financial statements filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Founded in 2018, Fasal leverages AI, crop sciences, and IoT to deliver crop-stage-specific intelligence which optimizes resources and enhances productivity. Despite such strong focus on tech, only 9% of the firm’s total revenue ~Rs 3 crore came from these services. Meanwhile, Fasal made 91% of its revenue from selling fruits. For the agritech model which eventually converted into a supply chain, the cost of procurement was naturally the largest cost center which accounted for 47% of the overall expenditure. To the tune of scale, this cost increased 83% to Rs 33 crore in FY24. Its employee benefits, legal, advertising cum business promotion, packaging, forwarding, and other overheads pushed the overall cost to Rs 70 crore in FY24 from Rs 52 crore in FY23. See TheKredible for the detailed cost breakup. At Rs 30 crore, the increase in fruit sales helped Fasal to contain its losses in FY24. Its ROCE and EBITDA margin hovered at -45.7% and -80%, respectively. On a unit level, the firm spent Rs 2.06 to earn a rupee in the fiscal year ending March 2024. FY23-FY24 FY23 FY24 EBITDA Margin -146.32% -80% Expense/₹ of Op Revenue ₹2.89 ₹2.06 ROCE -163.53% -45.71% Fasal has raised $18 million to date including its pre-series of $4 million in 2021. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Omnivore is the largest external stakeholder with 15.99% followed by 3One4 Capital. See TheKredible for the complete shareholding pattern. By now, far too many agritech startups have followed the same pattern. Start off with a heavy on tech proposition that promises to disrupt farming itself, before discovering it’s just too difficult to move the needle there. And while at it, spot an alleged opportunity in price arbitrage between farmer rates and retail rates, and turn a seller. For one, this pattern is flawed simply because most of these startups are mistaken if they think they can negotiate better than the established network of traders on the ground. That is probably why we see startups allegedly selling farm fresh fruits and veggies still retailing stuff that can be a 100% premium to the push cart based sellers. On top of that are quality issues of depending on luck versus the hand picked comfort of buying yourself. Finally, the search for margins leads to a gradual spread of the portfolio or Sku’s, a surefire recipe to burn through funding faster. If it’s ever going to work, it might work for a handful of startups. For the rest, we have to wonder just what it will take.

E-comm unicorn DealShare’s gross revenue nosedives 75% in FY24

EntrackrEntrackr · 8m ago
E-comm unicorn DealShare’s gross revenue nosedives 75% in FY24
Medial

DealShare underwent a management change in the last fiscal year as three co-founders left the firm, which has visibly impacted its financial performance in FY24. The company’s gross scale declined by 75% in the fiscal year ending March 2024, while losses decreased by 66%. DealShare’s gross revenue from operations fell to Rs 499 crore in FY24 from Rs 1,963 crore in FY23, its consolidated financial statement sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows. Collection from traded goods shrank 74.7% to Rs 495.8 crore for the Jaipur-based company, whereas income from marketing services also narrowed 44.3% to Rs 3.3 crore during the last fiscal year. Cost of Material was the largest burn for the company which stood at Rs 529.3 crore in the last fiscal year while it incurred Rs 99 crore on employee benefit expenses which decreased 54.7%. Meanwhile, depreciation and amortization expenditures were reduced by 58.8% to Rs 14.75 crore. With other expenses of Rs 123.58 crore, its total expenses fell 69.9% to Rs 768.18 crore during the last fiscal year. While the gross scale dwindled significantly, the firm managed to cut down losses by 66% to Rs 167.7 crore in FY24 from Rs 502 crore in FY23. Its ROCE and EBITDA margin stood at -12.2% and -25.26%, respectively, on a unit basis, DealShare spent Rs 1.54 to earn a rupee in FY24. As of March 31, 2024, DealShare had a cash and cash equivalents of Rs 108.64 crore while bank balance (excluding cash equivalents) jumped three fold to Rs 292.3 crore from Rs 94 crore in the previous year. Meanwhile, its trade receivables decreased to Rs 525.7 crore in FY24. The last fiscal year (FY24) was quite challenging for DealShare as the firm let go of more than 100 employees and it had to shut down its B2B vertical. Out of four, three co-founders have left the firm and currently, its retail business chief Kamaldeep Singh is leading the firm. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, DealShare has raised $393 million to date from investors like Tiger Global, ADIA, Alpha Wave, and Kora Investment. Soon after becoming a unicorn in January 2022, it raised another $45 million at a valuation of $1.7 billion. If the exit of three founders was not enough, the sharp drop clearly indicates all is not well with the firm. In this season of wholesale changes, a new leadership team seems keener to start on a clean slate perhaps, by withdrawing from many deals and processes that the previous founders found acceptable. One hopes they have good reasons for that. It is not an uncommon problem in India to have founders holding on to the ‘secret sauce’ that keeps their forms humming, leading to a sharp drop in case the relevant person leaves. The hope usually is that the firm will reach enough scale and credibility to manage on its own. In this case, that has clearly not happened quickly enough for DealShare, despite significant topline growth. A 75% decline from a significant size indicates deeper issues at the firm. Or that it would take much more than a single financial year to resolve. We would comfortably place DealShare outside the Unicorn club for starters, if investors haven’t already done so.

IPO-bound Captain Fresh reports Rs 1,300 Cr GMV in FY24; losses up 4.4x

EntrackrEntrackr · 6m ago
IPO-bound Captain Fresh reports Rs 1,300 Cr GMV in FY24; losses up 4.4x
Medial

Captain Fresh is preparing for its IPO and recently secured Rs 100 crore from Motilal Oswal Group. The investment follows a solid financial performance by the company in the previous fiscal year, although the firm has not been able to rein in its losses. Captain Fresh's gross revenue (GMV) increased by 71% to Rs 1,395 crore in FY24 from Rs 817 crore in FY23, according to its consolidated financial statement sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Captain Fresh is a business-to-business seafood marketplace with a farm-to-retail platform for animal protein–fish, seafood, and sheep. The startup procures directly from the agents or farmers and supplies across B2B, B2R, and B2B2C channels. It leverages its bid engine, proprietary quality inspection, and satellite technology, ensuring match-making of demand and supply. The surge in revenue was primarily driven by the sale of products, which contributed Rs 1,385 crore. This represents 99.28% of the total operating revenue. Other operating revenue and sale of services added Rs 8.7 crore and Rs 1.3 crore, respectively. The company made an additional Rs 27 crore from interest income, which pushed its total revenue to Rs 1,422 crore in FY24. On the expenses front, the cost of materials emerged as the largest expense, escalating by 72.5% to Rs 1,311 crore, accounting for 79.55% of the total expenses. Employee benefit expenses saw a significant decline of 32.45%, reducing to Rs 81.6 crore, while legal charges increased by 30.56% to Rs 47 crore. Transportation costs dropped by 24% to Rs 38 crore, and other expenses remained relatively stable at Rs 170.4 crore. Overall, total costs grew by 44.82% to Rs 1,648 crore in FY24 from Rs 1,138 crore in FY23. Captain Fresh's loss spiked by 4.4X to Rs 229 crore in FY24 from Rs 52 crore in FY23. Its ROCE and EBITDA Margin stood at -22.95% and -12.10%, respectively. On a unit level, the company spent Rs 1.18 to earn a rupee of operating revenue in FY24. The company had current assets worth Rs 1,804 crore, including Rs 148 crore of cash and bank balance in the previous fiscal. According to TheKredible, Captain Fresh has raised a total funding of $176 million to date, with Matrix Partners, Tiger Global, Accel, Prosus, and Ankur Capital as its lead investors. Last year, it also took over three companies: Paris-based shrimp cooker and distributor Senecrus, US-based CenSea, and Poland-based Koral. The new funding appears to be part of a pre-IPO round. As per media reports, the company has appointed Axis Capital and BofA as bankers for a proposed IPO worth $350-400 million. While the increase in costs (and losses) can be attributed to the string of acquisitions and related costs (especially legal costs), Captain Fresh seems to be working to a plan. The biggest risk, of course, remains the main commodity in this case, seafood itself, which has high susceptibility to supply-side shocks due to natural as well as unnatural events like disease outbreaks, etc. However, the broader trends remain in favor of the business as well as Captain Fresh's own prospects, as demand remains steady with an upward bias. The US and European buys should also support margins besides providing better access for products sourced in India, beyond better credibility in India itself. It remains to be seen if 2025 is when the early signs, including profitability at EBITDA or even net profits, become visible.

Magicpin triples revenue to Rs 870 Cr in FY24, cuts losses

EntrackrEntrackr · 5m ago
Magicpin triples revenue to Rs 870 Cr in FY24, cuts losses
Medial

Magicpin triples revenue to Rs 870 Cr in FY24, cuts losses Hyperlocal retail platform Magicpin demonstrated notable financial results, scaling nearly three-fold during the last fiscal year, which ended in March 2024. Moreover, the Gurugram-based firm managed to control its losses by 25% in the same period. Magicpin’s revenue from operations surged 2.92X year-on-year to Rs 870 crore in FY24 from Rs 297 crore in FY23, its annual financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies show. Magicpin, a hyperlocal retail platform, has partnered with over 500 brands and 20,000 fashion stores across India. The sale of vouchers contributed 92% of its total operating revenue, making it the primary revenue source for the Lightspeed-backed firm. Additional revenue came from commissions and ONDC subsidies. The company earned an additional Rs 9.6 crore from interest on deposits and investment gains, bringing its total income to Rs 880 crore in the last fiscal year from Rs 315 crore in FY23. Magicpin has launched MagicFleet, an AI-powered SaaS platform that onboarded over 40,000 riders in its first four months and now processes more than 3,00,000 orders per month. The company plans to expand this to 1,00,000 riders and 1 million deliveries. It introduced magicNow, a feature designed to meet the increasing demand for fast deliveries. For the reward platform firm, the procurement of vouchers was the largest cost center, forming 80.7% of the overall expenditure. To the tune of scale, this cost grew 3X to Rs 776 crore in FY24 from Rs 253 crore in FY23. The firm managed to keep its employee benefits flat and its advertising cost was reduced by 15% in the previous fiscal. Its delivery charges, technology, server, payment gateway, legal, and other overheads pushed the total expenditure to Rs 961 crore in FY24. The three-fold surge in scale coupled with controlled expenditure helped Magicpin to reduce its losses by 25% to Rs 78 crore in FY24. Its ROCE and EBITDA margins stood at -49.7% and -8.67%, respectively. Magicpin’s cost efficiency improved, with Rs 1.10 spent to earn a rupee in FY24. At the end of the last fiscal year, its total current assets stood at 196 crore with the cash and bank balance of Rs 50 crore. We excluded ESOP costs from the loss calculation as they are non-cash expenses. Magicpin reported that FY 2024 was a transformative year, establishing itself as India’s largest hyperlocal startup, the third-largest food delivery app, and the largest seller app on ONDC for delivery, according to CFO Chunky Shah. Magicpin has grown without raising external funds in the past two fiscal years. In November 2021, it secured $60 million in a Series D round, with Zomato investing $50 million for a 16% stake. According to TheKredible, Lightspeed is the largest stakeholder, holding a 34% stake in the firm. Launched well after the first startup rush into ecomm but early enough to avoid some of the worst excesses, Magicpin has done well to outlast many of its peers since it started in 2015. Leaving it well placed to take advantage in a market that has evolved considerably, and no longer demands the kind of burn rates we saw till about 2020. As a leader in the ONDC space, Magicpin has gained a strategic advantage and appears well-positioned to leverage new opportunities. The company, often seen as a quiet performer, may still have more surprises in store.

BluSmart drivers face uncertainty amid company troubles, founder issues

EntrackrEntrackr · 2m ago
BluSmart drivers face uncertainty amid company troubles, founder issues
Medial

BluSmart suspended its operations in April in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, and Bengaluru, asking its 10,000 driver-partners to return their vehicles. The move has left several drivers scrambling to find new sources of income. Rajesh [name changed], a 35-year-old man in Gurugram, secured a driving job with a heavily VC-funded electric vehicle cab hailing company which once aimed to take on the duopoly of Ola Cabs and Uber in India. An average income of Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 per month, Rajesh admits, was not much for his family but managed to pay bills. Though, Rajesh, who also is a father of two young children, put in 10 hours to 12 hours daily - to reach the estimated monthly income. With his company now pausing the services, Rajesh has no source of earning, and does not know how he will pay his kids’ education fees. "... Now, I don’t know how I’ll manage. I missed my kids' school fees this month. My family depends on me, and I’ve never felt so helpless,” a visibly stressed Rajesh told Entrackr. One of the things that is agonising Rajesh the most is the deceptive way his employer pushed them out. “On Wednesday (April 16th), we [drivers] received a message saying the car needed to be submitted to the hub for a breakdown. We thought it was just a minor technical issue. When we got there, they told us it was a failure and we’d be informed later. But there was no word from the company after that. We just had to go home. We were left in complete shock," says Rajesh as his voice strains, reliving the fateful moment. Rajesh says he was among the first lot of employees, when the company had just 50 cars. Like many others, he too bought the company’s promise of stability. “Now, it feels like we’ve been left out to dry,” he said. “I’m considering working with Uber or Ola… I’m looking for something else, maybe a different field altogether. But BluSmart was my livelihood, and I’d go back in a heartbeat if they reopened. It was my only source of income,” he added. Rajesh’s story resonates with another thousands of drivers who are now scrambling to find new sources of income after BluSmart’s sudden suspension of its services. Entrackr has reached out to BluSmart seeking responses on how they plan to compensate the affected drivers. In case they respond, we will incorporate their inputs. Staging the protest On May 4, a group of BluSmart drivers raised their grievances at Jantar Mantar, a historic site for protests. They pressed for demands for alternative income avenues as well as called for crucial policy reforms to prevent similar abrupt dismissals. Additionally, they also sought a government intervention. Tajinder Singh, president of Parivahan Morcha Athavale and also among those spearheading the protest, told Entrackr that women drivers of BluSmart were among those bearing the brunt the most as other taxi companies refused to recruit them. He further said that some drivers were working on a per day basis as and when required but asserted that this was not a long-term solution. “We are demanding compensation for affected BluSmart drivers. We have also sought government intervention so that the drivers can continue to earn their livelihood,” Singh said. Singh also claimed that hundreds of BluSmart employees working at charging hubs were affected by the company’s sudden suspension of its services. A business model that promised to be different than rivals Even as ‘sustainability’ remained the headline grabber, BluSmart also deployed a rather different business model compared to rivals Ola Cabs and Uber. The company used a full-stack B2C model wherein they owned and managed the vehicles whereas Ola and Uber work with independent drivers. The model allowed BluSmart to have a better control on the quality of cars, maintenance, and subsequently better customer service. For drivers, the company offered a fixed salary along with incentives. An assured income was a big factor why a lot of drivers showed interest in joining BluSmart. Ola and Uber, on the other hand, operated on a familiar commission-based system, also common with several gig working-reliant service providers. Singh also highlighted this stark difference between BluSmart and its rivals. He said that the job of driver was to pick and drop the passenger and earn a regular income (per day payout and incentives). They needed to work 10 hours to 12 hours a day. Other things like maintenance and documentation was taken care of by the company, giving drivers a more relaxed environment to operate. Blusmart has raised over $180 million to date, including its $50 million series B round in January this year. Though, it received only Rs 61 crore out of $50 million. That said, a heavily-funded BluSmart juggernaut appeared unstoppable, until it did. Earlier this year, reports emerged that BluSmart delayed salary payments to cash crunch. It had also shut down operations in Dubai and also saw an exodus of top management employees, including CEO, CBO, and CTO. A month later, SEBI published findings of its probe into Gensol Engineering, BluSmart’s partner and EV lessor. The SEBI order highlighted misuse of funds, and also barred promoters Anmol and Puneet Singh Jaggi from accessing the securities market and holding key positions in Gensol Engineering. What next for BluSmart drivers BluSmart drivers facing joblessness due to the shutdown can go for legal remedy and urgently demand clearance of any unpaid dues and better severance compensation, if not given already. The legal course, which may take a relatively long time, may also help them investigate if BluSmart violated the contract by sudden halting of their services and returning vehicles. Moreover, they can also seek intervention from regulatory boards. Singh, however, did not appear enthusiastic about taking the legal course. “Companies like these make such contracts that they keep them protected in such incidents and don’t have to own any responsibility towards people working so hard for them,” he said [loosely translated from Hindi]. As far as the future of the company goes, it’s hard to predict considering the massive VC money riding on the company. Despite the major dent in public image and also several legal troubles, it’s likely that the company may stay afloat with a rather new management and new board - a few known steps troubled companies often take to course correct. It’s worth noting that quality of drivers and cabs were the top highlight of the platform, and if it resumes, it should continue with that. With the ongoing protests and lack of communication between drivers and management, it seems unlikely that the company will enjoy the same level of trust from its network drivers.

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