Turtlemint remains profitable in FY21 with 35% jump in revenue

Insuretch platform Turtlemint witnessed a stable financial performance in the financial year 2021. The Mumbai-based venture recorded a 35% jump in its operating revenue to Rs 63 crore in FY21 from Rs 46.8 crore in the preceding fiscal year (FY20). 

With Rs 60.36 crore—96% of its total operating income—commission and brokerage were the largest for Turtlemint in FY21 whereas other services provided to insurers contributed Rs 2.6 crore, making up for the remaining 4% of its total operating income.

This comes at a time when the company is in talks with New York’s Tiger Global Management to raise a new round, which is expected to value Turtlemint at over $1 billion — making it one of the handfuls of profitable unicorns.

Even as Turtlemint experienced a respectable growth in scale in FY21, the spurt has come in lieu of an increase in expenses. The company’s total expenses shot up 44% to Rs 60.70 crore in FY21 from Rs 42.2 crore in FY20.

Employee benefit expenses emerged as the largest expense element for the company and this cost grew 91% to Rs 38 crore in FY21 from Rs 19.9 crore in FY20. Salaries and other remuneration to employees formed 63% of total expenses.

To increase the sales, Turtlemint has spent on commission charges (paid to agents) which increased 33% to Rs 12.2 crore in FY21 from Rs 9.2 crore in FY20. At present, the company claims to have over 100,000 insurance advisers on its platform.

While the operating revenue of Turtlemint jumped significantly during FY21, its profit dwindled by 55% to Rs 1.62 crore in FY21 from Rs 3.58 crore in FY20.

Due to the reduction in profit, Turtlemint’s cash flow from operations fell to Rs 14 lakh in the last fiscal (FY21) which stood at Rs 1.34 crore in FY20. On a unit level, the company spent 0.96 paise to make a rupee of operating income in FY21.

Despite the pandemic, Turtlemint’s operating revenue grew in FY21, which is in line with the global climate as demand for insurance policies (especially those related to health) increased multifold in FY21, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even though the company’s profit fell in the fiscal, it managed to remain in the green which is a good sign for the eight-year-old company.