A majority of venture capital-backed growth and late-stage startups typically grow their scale year-on-year but some switch from “growth at any cost” to a more realistic one where they focus on better economics rather than the hockey-stick growth. One such firm is B2B e-commerce platform Udaan.
Udaan's gross revenue (GMV) dwindled by 43.1% to Rs 5,629 crore in FY23 from Rs 9,900 crore in FY22, according to the financial statements filed by its group company, Trustroot Internet in Singapore.
The sale of traded goods on the online platform was the primary revenue driver for the company, accounting for 96% of the total gross merchandise value. This income shrank by 43.7% to Rs 5,408 crore in FY23.
Distribution, logistics, and advertising were other avenues for Udaan’s revenue collection. Check TheKredible to see the complete breakup.
Revenue Breakdown
FY22
Total ₹ 9900 Cr
FY23
Total ₹ 5629 Cr
Having a cash-and-carry business model, Udaan’s cost of procurement formed 69% of the total burn. In line with scale, this cost decreased by 43.4% to Rs 5349 crore in FY23. The firm's employee benefits, logistics, IT, marketing, legal and professional and other operating costs took its total expenditure to Rs 7,751 crore in FY23.
Head to TheKredible for the detailed breakdown of expenses.
Expense Breakdown
FY22
Total ₹ 12978 Cr
FY23
Total ₹ 7751 Cr
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Procurement of goods
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Employee benefit
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Finance cost
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Logistics and packaging
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Outsourced manpower
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Communication and IT
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Legal and professional fees
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Marketing and Advertisement
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Others
In the end, Udaan’s losses contracted 33.7% to Rs 2,076 crore in FY23 from Rs 3,132 crore in FY22. Its ROCE and EBITDA margins stood at -182.9% and -45.3%.
FY22-FY23
FY22 | FY23 | |
---|---|---|
EBITDA Margin | -26.16% | -45.32% |
Expense/₹ of Op Revenue | ₹1.42 | ₹1.32 |
ROCE | -149.3% | -182.90% |
On a unit level, it spent Rs 1.32 to earn a rupee in FY23.
Udaan has raised Rs 11,800 crore or $1.5 billion across rounds. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Lightspeed is the largest external shareholder with 32.69% followed by DST Global and Tencent. Its founders Vaibhav Gupta, Sujeet Kumar, and Amod Malviya collectively hold around 22.6% of the company. Significantly, Kumar and Malviya stepped down from their active role in the company in March 2022.