OneAssist posts Rs 60 Cr loss with flat growth in FY22

Sequoia and Lightspeed-backed post sales service company OneAssist has struggled to deliver strong growth in the last few fiscal years and FY22 was no exception. The company barely managed to grow its revenue in double digits but in doing so it slipped into the red and posted a loss of Rs 59.7 crore in FY22 against a profit of almost Rs 10 crore in FY21.

OneAssist’s operating revenue increased by 13.1% to Rs 308.8 crore in FY22 from Rs 273 crore in FY21, according to its consolidated financial statements with the Registrar of Companies.

Founded by Subrat Pani and Gagan Maini, OneAssist is a subscription driven assistance and protection platform. It provides services on the loss of wallets, credit cards, offers extended warranty, repair, mobile phone protection and more. It competes against UK headquartered CPP in India, among others.

Income from subscription services accounted for 99.6% of the firm’s total operating revenue in FY22 with the rest tapped from the sale of courtesy handsets. Courtesy handsets enable subscribers to procure handsets immediately in case of loss and thefts for five days (until insurance claims get settled).

With over 1,000 service agents, OneAssist claims to serve over four million users and has a presence in more than 600 cities.

On the expenses side, commission paid to agents formed 32.9% of the overall expenditure which grew 26.8% to Rs 123.76 crore in FY22.

Its employee benefit expenses grew 40.5% to Rs 79.5 crore in the same period. This cost also includes Rs 8.2 crore on ESOPs which were non-cash in nature. OneAssist’s insurance costs also rose 23.3% to Rs 57 crore in FY22. The 12-year-old company also spent Rs 38.4 crore on advertising and marketing and Rs 38.6 crore on servicing and software maintenance.

The company’s spending on workforce and commissions outpaced its revenue growth. Consequently, OneAssist’s total costs spiked to the tune of 40.1% and stands at Rs 375.3 crore in FY22.

When it comes to bottomline, the Mumbai-based company posted a loss of Rs 59.7 crore in FY22 against a profit of Rs 9.6 crore in FY21. Its ROCE and EBITDA margin stood at -31.46% and -16.85% respectively. On a unit level, OneAssist spent Rs 1.22 to earn one rupee.

In what is primarily a B2B business model on the revenue front, where OneAssist has to partner with relevant entities to protect their consumers against various mishaps, be it with cards, products and more, the losses might be due to many reasons. But a key one could be the pause on recurring payment debits mandated by the RBI, which has forced these firms to sell to their customers every year. Card protection is usually a category where many customers are not even aware they have bought it. Large customers like HDFC bank, Axis Bank  have virtually stopped selling these accordingly.

For OneAssist and firms in the category, that has made the road a lot more bumpy, driving up spends on advertising and a larger sales team probably. A return to profitability will be a lot more difficult than the first time round.