Fullstack aquaculture startup Aquaconnect has grown at a rapid clip in the last few years that can be witnessed from over 14X jump in its operating scale to Rs 34 crore in FY22 from Rs 2.4 crore in FY20.
Aquaconnect’s revenue from operations flourished 7.5X to Rs 34.46 crore during the fiscal year ending March 2022 in comparison to Rs 4.6 crore in FY21, the company’s financial statement with the Registrar of Companies shows.
Besides operations, it also earned a non-operating income of Rs 25 lakh majorly from interest on financial assets.
The sharp rise in Acquaconnect’s operating scale helped it to keep a tap over losses when compared to the 4.8X jump in total expenses. The company’s losses surged 2.3X to Rs 11.18 crore in FY22 from Rs 4.82 crore in the preceding fiscal year.
Five-year-old Aquaconnect integrates the network of aquaculture farmers in Asia with predictive SaaS tools for farm management. It also has an omnichannel marketplace and leverages artificial intelligence and satellite remote sensing technologies to deliver maximum output.
As per its website, it serves over 27,000 pin codes across six states with a network of more than 60K farmers and 30 plus brand partnerships.
Aquaconnect’s cost sheet reflects purchases of stock (Shrimp, Avanthi Manamei, Fish and others) as the largest cost element which formed 71.7% of the total expenditure. Along with scale, this cost shot up over 7X to Rs 32.52 crore in FY22 from Rs 3.99 crore in FY21.
Employee benefit expenses jumped 2X to Rs 7.39 crore during the year. Aquaconnect also incurred business promotion, legal and professional charges of Rs 1.62 crore collectively during FY22.
In total, its total expenditure soared 4.8X to Rs 45.33 crore in FY22 as compared to Rs 9.51 crore in FY21.
On a unit level, Aquaconnect spent Rs 1.32 to earn a rupee of operating revenue during FY22.
Aquaconnect has raised around $28 million to date from Lok Capital, Rebright Partners, Flourish, Omnivore and more. During its $15 million worth Series A round it was valued in the range of $25-30 million. Entrackr had exclusively reported about its first tranche in Dec last year.
