Lybrate turns profitable in FY19, revenue grows by 125.82%

The Indian healthcare sector is growing at a brisk pace due to its strengthening coverage, services, and increasing expenditure by the public as well as private players.

Amidst this enthusiasm, an online doctor appointment and pathology collection platform Lybrate has posted a profit in its annual financial statements for the year ending 2018-19.

The company registered a 125.82% hike in revenue from operations to Rs 42.78 crore in FY19 against Rs 18.71 crore in FY18, revealed filings with the MCA.

However, its other income including office rent & maintenance, interest on income tax refund, and others have decreased by 49.15% this year, to Rs 14.96 lakh during the same period.

Founded in 2013 by Saurabh Arora and Rahul Narang, Lybrate offers users a platform to communicate with doctors through a combination of text, audio, and video. While users can ask questions related to health for free, it charges a fee for doctor consultation and collecting pathology test from the patient’s doorstep.

Apart from providing its users access to online medical professionals, the platform also consists of regular blogs from experts giving tips and advice on health and well-being. It competes with the likes of Practo, DocsApp, and 1mg, among others.

During the year under review, the California and New Delhi-based company has incurred a total expenditure of Rs 37.65 crore, an 86.94% increase from Rs 20.14 crore in the preceding fiscal.

Generating an overall revenue of Rs 42.93 crore against an expenditure of Rs 37.65 crore resulted in the company been able to turn itself profitable by making Rs 5.24 crore profits for the financial year ending March 2019. Last year, the company had faced a loss of Rs 1.05 crore.

If we break down its total expenses further, the company has spent Rs 16.86 crore on its employees' benefit and rest on depreciation, business promotion, rent and legal fees, among others.

Employee benefit expenses in FY19 shot up by 52.71% from Rs 11.04 crore the previous year.

Besides, the company has also spent heavily on business promotion & marketing, which have increased by 164.73%, to Rs 10.51 crore from Rs 3.97 crore in FY18.