Seven-year-old Rooter spent Rs 52 Cr to make Rs 11 Cr in FY22

Streaming and e-sports platform Rooter raised $25 million in a Series A round in the last quarter of FY22. And, it looks like the company’s growth in scale which exceeded over 6X in FY22 was one of the key attractions for its lead investor Lightbox.

Rooter’s revenue from operations blew 6.5X to Rs 11.38 crore during the fiscal year ending March 2022 in contrast to Rs 1.74 crore in FY21, according to its annual financial statements with the RoC.

The good part of Rooter was that it managed this growth with a 3.7X increase in its losses which stood at Rs 40.72 crore in FY22 against Rs 11.05 crore in the preceding fiscal year (FY21).

Rooter allows gamers to connect with each other by live streaming their games, upload gaming content, participate in e-sports tournaments and transact using Rooter’s marketplace for gamers.

Its live streaming is available in 10 languages and counts gaming teams including Skyesports, Orange Rock, Chemin Esports, Revenge Esports, and Orangutan among others.

Rooter collected around 81% of its operating revenue in India amounting to Rs 9.19 crore while the rest Rs 2.19 crore was booked as export revenue during FY22.

On the expense front, marketing cost turned out to be the largest cost element forming 48% of the total expenses. This cost shot up over 8X to Rs 25 crore in FY22 from Rs 3.07 crore in FY21.

Information technology including server cost and employee benefits expenses surged around 170%  and 82% during the year to Rs 11.27 crore and Rs 7.86 crore respectively. Rooter also incurred legal - professional and brokerage fees which stood at Rs 5.62 crore and Rs 18 lakh respectively during FY22.

Its overall expenditure surged over four-fold to Rs 52.15 crore during FY22 from Rs 12.76 crore in FY21. On a unit level, Rooter spent Rs 4.58 to earn a rupee of operating income in FY22.

Rooter has raised around $30 million (~Rs 230 crore) to date from the likes of Lightbox, March Gaming, and Duane Park Ventures. 9Unicorns et al. Following its latest fundraise in January last year, it was valued at around Rs 580 crore ($73 million).

The company appears to be on track of demonstrating similar growth numbers in the last fiscal year (FY23). According to the company, it’s set to post Rs 48.4 crore in operating income in FY23.