FreshMenu shows 63% topline growth in FY18; lost Rs 44 Cr to earn Rs 123 Cr

Fullstack foodtech platform FreshMenu has revealed its financial figures for FY18 via RoC filings with MCA.

The revenue of the firm grew by 62.7 per cent from Rs 76.04 crore to Rs 123.72 crore in FY18. Sale of products contributed 99 per cent to the revenue. This operational income showed a 72.5 per cent increase by itself, going up to Rs 122.33 crore from Rs 70.9 crore.

The expenses of the company increased to Rs 167.61 crore, a 41.7 per cent up from Rs 118.33 crore in FY17. The highest of expense - employee benefit - showed a 33.4 per cent hike, going up from Rs 33.05 crore to Rs 44.1 crore.

Even with a significant top level growth, due to inability in controlling expenses the firm incurred a loss of Rs 43.89 crore, a slightly (3.8 per cent) higher amount that Rs 42.28 crore in FY17.

During the year, the Saama Capital-backed company raised Rs 1.62 crore from Bennett Coleman and Company Limited via issue of 5 share warrants of face value Rs 16.25 crore. For uninitiated, share warrants are used to raise funds at a specific price, generally lower than the market value or face value.

In April, the cloud kitchen based company was also reported to be a potential avenue of acquisition by Ola to enable the latter in strengthening its foodtech bet in the foodpanda business.

However, compared to its direct rival InnerChef, Rashmi Daga led FreshMenu is way ahead of the former in terms of revenue and financial growth, while InnerChef has had better luck in terms of raising funds.

Going further, it will be interesting to see how FreshMenu manages to keep its growth chart upwards, which trying to head towards profitability and maintaining its market dominance in fullstack foodtech segment.