Agritech startup Arya.ag raised $60 million just before the commencement of FY23 and the firepower allowed the company to achieve 50% growth in scale. The firm also turned profitable during the last fiscal year.
Arya.ag revenue from operations surged 50% to Rs 290 crore in FY23 from Rs 194 crore in FY22, its consolidated annual financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) shows.
Arya.ag is a grain commerce platform which facilitates connections between agri producers (sellers)- buyers and provides warehousing, debt et al.
Income from storage and warehousing formed 68% of the total revenue. This income increased by 22.2% to Rs 198 crore in FY23 from Rs 162 crore in FY22. The rest of the collections came from the procurement of service agreements and interest on loans offered from its own and sourced NBFCs.
See TheKredible to see the detailed revenue breakup.
Revenue Breakdown
FY22
Total ₹ 194 Cr
FY23
Total ₹ 290 Cr
On the cost side, storage-related costs accounted for 62% of the total expenditure which grew 27.1% to Rs 178 crore in FY23 from Rs 140 crore in FY22. Its employee benefit cost also increased 53.6% to Rs 43 crore during the previous fiscal year. Information technology, legal cum professional fees, finance cost, and other overheads catalyzed the overall expenses by 43.9% to Rs 285 crore in FY23 from Rs 198 crore in FY22.
See TheKredible for the detailed expense breakup.
Expense Breakdown
FY22
Total ₹ 198 Cr
FY23
Total ₹ 285 Cr
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Storage related cost
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Employee benefits
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Information technology
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Legal professional charges
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Finance cost
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Others
The impressive scale and good cost control helped Arya.ag to turn itself into black. The company posted Rs 7.5 crore in profits after tax in the previous fiscal year as compared to Rs 10 lakh of losses during FY22. Its ROCE and EBITDA improved to 10% and 19% respectively. On a unit level, the company spent Rs 0.98 to earn a rupee in FY23.
Arya.ag has raised around $82 million across rounds and is valued at $300 million. According to the data intelligence platform TheKredible, Aspada Investment is the largest stakeholder with 17.89% followed by Lightrock Venture, Accion Quona, and Omnivore Partners India. Its co-founders Prasanna Rao, Anand Chandra, and Chattanathan Devarajan cumulatively command 17.44% stake in the company.
Arya, which competes with Farmart that claims to cross Rs 1,060 crore in revenue in FY23, Dehaat which posted Rs 1965 crore in revenue with a loss of Rs 371 crore in FY23, Ninjacart which recorded Rs 1,600 crore in revenue with a loss of Rs 325 crore in the previous fiscal, Bijak and others.
FY22-FY23
FY22 | FY23 | |
---|---|---|
Expense/Rupee of ops revenue | ₹1.02 | ₹0.98 |
ROCE | 3% | 10% |
EBITDA Margin | 10% | 19% |
With a claim to being the only profitable agritech in the country, Arya has done well to achieve it in a decade since its founding. However, in agritech, as we have repeatedly stressed, profitability is a direct function of scale, as margins are simply very sticky and low. To that extent, Arya will need to focus on maintaining the kind of growth rates it has managed in the past year consistently for a few years. Its business operations certainly cover segments where the demand exists to provide years of growth, if it can deliver the right solutions.