Clear posts 85% revenue growth in FY23, losses remain steady

After posting flat revenue in FY21 and FY22, tax filing and compliance company Clear (formerly Cleartax) has managed around 85% growth in its operating scale in the fiscal year ending March 2023. The Bengaluru-based company, backed by global fintech giant Stripe, also controlled its losses which grew by just 5% in FY23.

Clear’s revenue from operations surged to Rs 109 crore in FY23 from Rs 59 crore in FY22, its consolidated financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show.

Founded by Archit Gupta, Srivatsan Chari, and Ankit Solanki, Clear offers a two sided platform. While its consumer facing entity lets individuals file taxes while the B2B side aims to help CAs and enterprises to file their returns. 

Financials FY23

Check detailed 3 year financial comparison on thekredible.com

The company claims to have over 35,000 retail investors with 6 million plus businesses registered on their portal. Income from subscriptions formed 95% of the collection which increased 2X to Rs 104 crore in FY23. The rest of the collections originated from platform fees and other operating activities.

Check TheKredible for the detailed revenue breakdown.

Revenue Breakdown

FY22

Total ₹ 59 Cr

FY23

Total ₹ 109 Cr

To check complete Revenue Breakdown visit thekredible.comView full data

Similar to other SaaS companies, employee benefits accounted for 73% of the total expenditure. This cost increased 12.6% to Rs 251 crore in FY23 from Rs 223 crore in FY22. The limited increase in employee cost was the result of around 190 employees layoffs which was done in September 2022.

Its web hosting cum software charges, business and promotion, legal/professional fees and other overheads catalyzed its overall cost by 21.6% to Rs 344 crore in FY23 from Rs 283 crore in FY22. 

Head to TheKredible for the detailed expense breakup.

Expenses Breakdown

FY22

Total ₹ 283 Cr

FY23

Total ₹ 344 Cr

• Employee benefit expense

• Web hosting and software charges

• Business promotion

• Legal professional fees

• Others

To check complete Expense Breakdown visit thekredible.comView full data

The impressive surge and controlled expenditure helped Clear to keep its losses stable with a mere 5% increase to Rs 234 crore in FY23 from Rs 223 crore in FY22. Its ROCE and EBITDA margin stood at -315% and -198% respectively. On a unit level, it spent Rs 3.16 to earn a rupee in FY23.

FY22-FY23

	FY22	FY23
EBITDA Margin	-365%	-198%
Expense/₹ of Op Revenue	₹4.80	₹3.16
ROCE	-376%	-315%

Clear has raised around $140 million to date including a $75 million Series C round during FY22 (October 2021) at a valuation of more than $700 million.