Jewellery startup GIVA raised $35 million Series B led by Premji Invest in July this year and the fundraise appears to have been influenced by the momentum behind its two-fold spike in operating collection during the fiscal year ending March 2023. However, the direct to customer (D2C) jewellery brand’s losses outpaced its revenue growth in the same period.
Aditya Birla-backed Giva’s revenue from operations grew by 96.4% to Rs 165 crore in FY23 from Rs 84 crore in FY22, according to its consolidated financial statements filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
Four-year-old GIVA provides a range of certified silver jewellery and recently began offering 14K and 18K gold and lab-grown diamond jewellery. With the presence of over 50 stores across India, the sale of jewellery products is the only source of revenue for Giva in FY23.
The cost of procurement of related products formed 35% of the overall expenditure which jumped 114% to Rs 75 crore in FY23 from Rs 35 crore in FY22. Its employee benefit expenses also rose 4.2X to Rs 21 crore in FY23.
Giva’s other cost elements including legal/professional, transportation distribution and marketing cum branding costs collectively propelled its expenditure by 2X to Rs 212 crore in FY23 from Rs 104 crore in FY22.
See TheKredible for the detailed expense breakdown.
Expenses Breakdown
FY22
Total ₹ 104 Cr
FY23
Total ₹ 212 Cr
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Cost of materials consumed
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Employee benefit expense
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Legal professional charges
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Transportation distribution
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Marketing and branding
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Othes
The notable surge in marketing and employee benefits resulted in a 2.36X increase in losses which flew to Rs 45 crore in FY23 from Rs 19 crore in FY22. Its ROCE and EBITDA margin worsened to -48% and -25% respectively. On a unit level, it spent Rs 1.28 to earn a rupee in FY23.
FY22-FY23
FY22 | FY23 | |
---|---|---|
Expense/Rupee of ops revenue | ₹1.24 | ₹1.28 |
ROCE | -23% | -48% |
EBITDA Margin | -22% | -25% |
The Bengaluru-based company has raised $50 million from Premji Invest, Aditya Birla, A91 Partners, Indian Quotient and Titan Capital.
Giva competes with Tata-backed BlueStone which registered a revenue of Rs 771 crore with a loss of Rs 167 crore in the last fiscal year and CaratLane which reported Rs 2,169 crore in revenue in FY23. Its another competitor Mellora posted an operational revenue of Rs 364.4 crore in FY22. The firm is yet to report its financial numbers for the last fiscal.
GIVA’s poor margins in the space, especially when selling everyday wear or ‘affordable’ jewellery for the most part, is surprising. It points to a challenge of attracting footfalls or traffic that it would need in much higher numbers when compared to major jewellery brands in the higher purity gold and diamond categories. FY24 should give us a clearer perspective on whether the firm has finally found a sustainable way to recover and move into the black.