Lynk which originally started as an inter-city logistics company changed its track in 2020 to become a kirana commerce platform. It provides fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) products to neighborhood retailers and offers them credit via buy now pay later facility. The pivot worked for the Chennai-based company as it has managed to cross Rs 200 crore in topline in FY22.
Lynk has recorded a 2.5X growth in operating revenue to Rs 209.48 crore in FY22, as per the company’s annual financial statement with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The company operated in two segments viz: Retail distribution of FMCG products and Transportation of goods i.e Logistics.
The sale of FMCG products to retailers has become the driver of revenues for Lynk, forming 87.5% of its total operating revenue. This income grew 5.3X to Rs 183.35 crore in FY22 whereas income from logistics service dwindled 44% to Rs 25.94 crore in FY22.
Lynk claims to have presence across eight cities and covers 140K kirana stores and two dozen brands including Unilever, Zydus, Marico, RedBull et al. It’s worth noting that the cement giant Ramco holds around 50% stake in Lynk until the end of the fiscal year ending March 2021.
The firm follows a hybrid (inventory and marketplace) model and this is evident from its expense pattern. The cost of procurement of goods emerged as the largest cost center for the company, constituting 76.2% of the overall expenditure which surged 2.6X to Rs 197.42 crore in FY22.
Employee benefit expenses turned out to be the next big expense element for Lynk which grew around 50% to Rs 20.44 crore in FY22 while the cost of information technology expanded 39% to Rs 6.56 crore in FY22.
The company spent Rs 4.14 crore on rent which pushed its total expenditure to the tune of 2.3X to Rs 259.2 crore in FY22.
With a sharp spike in scale, Lynk’s losses increased 74.8% to Rs 36 crore in FY22 from Rs 20.6 crore in FY21. On a unit level, the company spent Rs 1.24 to earn a single unit of operating revenue.
The kirana commerce space has been growing at a rapid clip and this could be evident from the scale of Udaan, IK Kirana Bazaar, Jumbotail, ElasticRun and several others. Over the past year, the aforementioned players also mopped up sizable funding. 1K Kirana Baz1ar raised $25 million led by Alpha Wave in April this year and registered an operating revenue of Rs Rs 11.56 crore in FY21.
Bengaluru-based Jumbotail raised $85 million in a Series C funding round and posted Rs 123.1 crore in operating income in FY21. ElasticRun which turned unicorn after SoftBank’s round had crossed over 1,000 crore in income FY21.
