With Rs 23.6 Cr loss, NoBroker's revenue recorded 465% surge in FY17

Business models in the online real-estate segment are largely dependent on advertising and lead generation, but NoBroker is an exception. Unlike others, the Bengaluru-based startup offers a subscription model for tenants as well as owners.

Gradually, the model seems to be working for NoBroker, however, it’s still far away from making profits. It has recorded a 465.7 per cent rise in revenue to Rs 6.28 crore in FY17 as compared to Rs 1.11 crore in the previous fiscal.

Meanwhile, the company’s losses jumped to Rs 23.59 crore in FY17, a 67.9 per cent from FY16, reveals RoC filings. It had posted a loss of Rs 14.05 crore in the previous fiscal.

Employee benefit has accounted for the highest expenditure of Rs 16.19 crore for NoBroker in FY17.

Currently, the platform claims to close a few thousand subscribers every month. For tenants, subscription starts from Rs 999, which provides 25 leads while Rs 1,999 plan comes up with a relationship manager.

For owners, the company offers a similar plan starting with Rs 2,999. It also has a freemium model with basic features. In an interview with Entrackr this year Amit Kumar, founder and CEO of NoBroker had hinted that it has on-boarded a few thousand subscribers till date (less than 10,000).

So far, NoBroker has raised about $20 million (Rs 135 crores) total funding from SAIF Partners, BEENEXT, Digital Garage, BEENOS, and Apoletto Asia.

Contrary to other platforms, NoBroker claims to have only 10-15 percent of the consumer acquisition cost incurred by other large players in the segment.

Collectively, No Broker claims it has about 1 million users interacting with the platform on a monthly basis. It also asserts that it’s adding 180K (1.8 lakh) users every month. But the moot question is – how many users actually seek paid subscription?