Accel-backed Brick&Bolt records 60% surge in topline, losses up 2X

Online construction marketplace Brick&Bolt bagged $10 million (Rs 80 crore) in funding from Accel and Celesta Capital in January this year. This came after a 60% surge in the topline for the Bengaluru-based startup. Its bottomline, however, sank around 2X during the fiscal year ending March 2022.

Brick&Bolt’s gross revenue from operations rose 60.5% to Rs 13.8 crore in FY22 as compared to Rs 8.6 crore in FY21, as per the financial statement with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

Brick&Bolt made around 52% of its operating income from commissions charged as project management fees, and the remaining 48% came from material supplies during the last fiscal year. It also earned Rs 45 lakh as interest and gains on financial assets during the year.

Founded in 2018 by Jayesh Rajpurohit and Arpit Rajpurohit, Brick&Bolt provides services such as home construction, construction for businesses, and building materials. Its platform also connects contractors and architects with customers. Currently, it operates in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Jaipur, Pune, and Delhi-NCR. The startup plans to expand to 12 cities in the coming months.

Employee benefit emerged as the largest cost center for the company contributing 55% of the total expenses. This cost surged over 2X to Rs 16.35 crore during the last financial year. Cost of materials was another major cost and went up 29% to Rs 6.64 crore in FY22 from Rs 5.14 crore in  FY21.

The company spent Rs 3.38 crore on marketing & branding and made project related payments to vendors of Rs 62 lakh in FY22. Further, IT costs including software, subscription and cloud services stood at Rs 32 lakh during the last fiscal year.

In the end, its total expenditure rose 79.5% to Rs 29.8 crore in FY22 from Rs 16.6 crore in FY21. On the back of a sharp rise in annual expenditure, losses of the company soared 2X to Rs 11.64 crore in FY22 in contrast to Rs 5.8 crore in FY21. On a unit level, Brick&Bolt spent Rs 2.16 to earn a rupee of operating revenue in FY22.

Brick&Bolt has raised around $16 million to date from Accel, Celesta Capital, Surge, and Foundamental, among others. It was last valued around $45-50 million (~Rs 400 crore) following the latest fundraise in January.

Tiger Global-backed Infra.Market is the largest player in this space. Unlike Brick&Bolt, the company caters to builders and construction companies only.