Dhan swings to profit in FY24 with gross revenue of Rs 380 crore, up 600% year-on-year

Stock broking startup Raise Financial Services, which runs the trading application Dhan, has reported gross revenues of Rs 380 crore for 2023-24, up 600% from Rs 54.2 crore in the previous financial year, according to a note shared by the company with its shareholders. ET has seen a copy of the note.

The Mumbai-based startup, founded in 2021, reported net profit of Rs 155 crore compared to a net loss of Rs 22 crore in the previous fiscal.

Dhan founder Pravin Jadhav did not comment on the company’s financials.

The company expects a 25-30% impact on its gross revenue due to the recent regulatory actions on the highly speculative futures and options market by the markets regulator.

The stock broking app rode the surge in popularity of equity trading and expansion of the stock market which helped the startup break into the top 10 among stock brokers in the country in terms of active traders. At the end of August, Dhan had about 740,000 active traders, as per data released by the NSE.

“Almost 90% of Dhan’s users are traders who have migrated from other broking platforms. The startup is focused on seasoned traders and will be chasing large revenue pools,” said a person in the know, who did not wish to be identified.

The company is in talks with potential investors to raise fresh venture funding. Armed with equity capital, Dhan will be able to expand its offerings in margin trade funding and build new revenue generating products.The profits generated by the firm go into building products and technology to enhance the performance of the platform and are also deposited with the stock exchanges for working capital and margin requirements.

In the note to its shareholders, the company said that it aims to go public in the next three to five years.

Dhan’s performance comes in the backdrop of the larger ecosystem of discount brokers, most of whom have performed well over the past few years. Factors like the entry of many young traders, rise of derivatives trading, coupled with a bunch of initial public offerings undertaken by new generation tech companies led to the expansion of the market and helped new generation brokers. Existing traders have also switched to discount broking platforms, lured by better pricing and smoother user interface.

Bengaluru-based Zerodha reported a 61% year-on-year jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,700 crore for 2023-24 and Peak XV Partners-backed Groww reported a net profit of Rs 297 crore in its broking business for the fiscal.