Google Backed ShareChat’s Losses Ballooned To INR 4,064 Cr In FY23 

Social media platform ShareChat parent Mohalla Tech Private Limited’s losses jumped 38.17% to INR 4,064.31 Cr during FY23 as compared to INR 2,941.51 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

However, the Google-backed company posted a 62% surge in its revenue from operations to INR 540.21 Cr from INR 332.69 Cr in FY22.

Meanwhile, the startup’s total income also saw an increase of 54.90% to INR 628.85 Cr from INR 405.96 Cr in FY22. Effectively, it spent INR 7.46 to earn every rupee in FY23.

Founded in January 2015 by Ankush Sachdeva, Bhanu Singh, and Farid Ahsan, Mohalla Tech positions ShareChat as an Indic language social media platform. In 2022, it acquired Times Internet-owned social short-video platform MX TakaTak for over $600 Mn to foray into the competing short-video social space. ShareChat and Moj together have 400 Mn monthly active users currently.

The Expenditure Breakdown

The Bengaluru-based unicorn’s total expenses surged 40.20% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 4,693.16 Cr from INR 3,347.47 Cr. Expenses included INR 816.9 Cr worth impairment of investment in the subsidiary and INR 452 Cr of loss on foreign exchange, provision for doubtful assets and loans.

Sharp increase in finance costs: ShareChat’s finance costs increased 144% YoY to INR 215.65 Cr from INR 88.32 Cr in FY22.

Employee expenses shot up: ShareChat’s employee benefit expenses rose 37.83% to INR 663.67 Cr in FY23 from INR 481.49 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the company saw a sharp decline in its cash and cash equivalents to INR 18.03 Cr in FY23 from INR 446.48 Cr in FY22.

ShareChat Troubles In 2023

ShareChat closed its $520 Mn funding round at a valuation of $5 Bn in June 2022. However, soon after that troubles started to brew at the headquarters.

Eventually, the company laid off almost 30% of its workforce, which saw some high-profile exits such as cofounders – Bhanu Pratap Singh and Farid Ahsan as well as chief commercial officer Ajit Varghese, head of commerce Nishad Shah, and other key roles such as senior directors of AI, ML, monetisation and live commerce, and content head at Moj.

ShareChat spent close to $1 Bn in acquiring six companies to bolster its content-to-commerce businesses in the past two years. The acquisitions include short video app Clip; fashion peer-to-peer marketplace Elanic; news and information platform Circle Internet; meme sharing app Memer; artists and brands distribution platform HPF Films and short video platform MX TakaTak.

It also shuttered its fantasy gaming app Jeet11, live commerce vertical, as well as social commerce vertical. The company has been struggling for a long with high cash burn and despite sitting on a huge user base of nearly 400 Mn in 2022, including the users on short video apps Moj and MX TakaTak, it has been unable to build a sustainable revenue stream.

ShareChat competes against the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Koo in the social media space.