However, the Gurugram-based company’s total expenses grew only 21.5% during the year to Rs 1,016.5 crore – pointing to an improvement in its unit economics.
The biggest chunk of expenses came from raw material costs, which increased to Rs 341.6 crore in FY23, compared to Rs 197.4 crore a year ago, according to the company’s regulatory filings sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler.
HealthKart’s advertising and promotional expenses climbed 56% year-on-year to Rs 188.63 crore, as it spent heavily on brand-building and marketing during the year, after it secured fresh funding during FY23.
In December last year, HealthKart raised $135 million (around Rs 1,100 crore) in its Series H funding round, led by Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek. Mumbai-based A91 Partners and Kae Capital also participated in the round.
Prior to that, the company had raised $25 million in its Series G round in May 2019 from investment firm Sofina.
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HealthKart assumed its current avatar in 2015 after the original brand HealthKart Plus saw its pharmaceuticals segment being hived off into 1mg, currently backed by the Tata Group.The company was originally founded in 2011 by Prashant Tandon and Sameer Maheshwari, who now head 1mg and HealthKart, respectively.
At the time of the company’s fundraise last year, Maheshwari had told ET that HealthKart would use funds to strengthen its brand by going deeper into allied categories and increasing its distribution network.
HealthKart has around 250 physical stores now, up from 140 stores last year. It also sells its products through its online channel and third-party ecommerce marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart.
The company owns eight brands in the nutritional products space, including MuscleBlaze, TrueBasics, HKVitals, bGreen, Nouriza, Gritzo and The Protein Zone.