The Bengaluru-based online marketplace, which drives a majority of its sales from non-metro markets, had reported an operating revenue of Rs 3,232 crore in FY22, while incurring a loss of Rs 3,247 crore. The FY23 financials pertain to Meesho’s Indian entity called Fashnear Technologies. Its parent firm is domiciled in the US–Meesho Inc.
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The latest financials are yet to be filed with the registrar of companies (RoC).
For the first half of FY24 ended September 30, 2023, Meesho said its operating revenue increased 37% year-on-year to Rs 3,521 crore, with a 90% reduction in loss to Rs 141 crore. The company, however, said it has achieved profitability for the September quarter, without disclosing any numbers.
In August, Meesho CEO Vidit Aatrey had first said the firm had clocked its first profit after tax for the month of July.
Before that in May, Meesho fired 15% of its staff–251 employees. The company had said at the time this was being done for a ‘leaner organisational structure to achieve sustained profitability’.
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The SoftBank and Peak XV Partners-backed firm said in a statement that it had been able to expand its revenue in FY23 on the back of improvements in transaction frequency and monetisation through various value-added services to sellers. Meesho generates the majority of revenue from offering logistics services to sellers and advertisements. It has also started charging a fee from select brands under Meesho Mall.
The company said the reduction in loss is attributed to ‘an increased focus’ on customer acquisition cost and server and infrastructure spends, among other factors.
The company claims to have maintained positive cash flow throughout the first half of FY24. “While the business continued to demonstrate sustainable growth, Meesho also became the first horizontal ecommerce company to turn profitable in India since July 2023 and has continued to remain so,” it added in the statement.
On October 13, ET reported that Venture Highway, one of the earliest investors in Meesho, sold a portion of its stake in the ecommerce startup to India-focused investment fund WestBridge Capital. Venture Highway did not disclose the size of its stake sale or the proceeds from the transaction.
Meesho last raised $570 million in September 2021, at a valuation of $4.9 billion in a round led by Fidelity and B Capital Group. In total, it has raised over $1 billion from the likes of Prosus Ventures, SoftBank, B Capital and Peak XV Partners.
Founded by Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal in 2015, Meesho competes with ecommerce majors like Flipkart and Amazon India. It does not charge commissions from sellers.
The firm has made multiple pivots from its early business, which had heavily relied on individual re-sellers in small towns and villages who bought products from the company in bulk and sold them in their neighbourhood and wider social circle.