InMobi Widens Its Losses By 54% In 2019 Amid Restructuring

Bengaluru-based adtech unicorn InMobi has reported a net loss of INR 54 Cr for the fiscal year 2019, a 53% year-on-year (YoY) increase compared to the previous financial year. The higher losses come at a time when the company restructured its business with three subsidiaries under a holding entity InMobi Group.

The company’s revenue stood at INR 384.21 Cr in FY19 compared to INR 317.81 Cr in FY18, a 20% YoY jump in during the same time period. In terms of expenses, the company stood at INR 440.53 Cr in FY19 compared to INR 351.3 Cr in FY18, according to a report in LiveMint.

Interestingly, the company’s revenue has grown considerably, since it reported a net profit of INR 11.87 Cr in 2017, but it has failed to repeat that feat since that year. The company’s expenses outpaced revenue with a growth rate ratio of 25% to 20%.

In a statement, the company said, “InMobi has multiple subsidiaries globally. Our focus has been to grow our top line at a group level while being operationally profitable. Individual subsidiary financials do not accurately reflect the financials of InMobi at a group level. At a group level, InMobi has recorded double-digit growth in the past many years. We have been operationally profitable over the past three years.”

After 2017, InMobi had to fork over a $950K fine to the US federal trade commission (FTC) for tracking user locations through its ads. The business restructuring in mid-2019 hinted at a public listing soon. At that time, InMobi had not finalised yet on whether it will list the holding company or the three entities separately. “The structure is better suited for an eventual public listing,” cofounder and CEO Naveen Tewari added.

InMobi was founded by Tewari, Piyush Shah, Abhay Singhal, Mohit Saxena and Amit Gupta in 2007. Tewari had earlier said that each of the three verticals is a multibillion-dollar opportunity. The three subsidiaries include InMobi UMC, TruFactor and Glance. Among these, InMobi Group will manage the company’s popular advertising business, and the TruFactor will handle its data business, and Glance will house the consumer content platform of InMobi. Tewari further said that operating them individually could help the company to grow to the next level.

InMobi has raised a total of $320.6 Mn in funding over seven rounds. In January 2019, the company has raised an undisclosed amount of money from Lightbox. In terms of acquisitions, the company till date has acquired nine companies, including Roposo, MMTG Labs, Pinsight Media, Sprout, Appbistro among others. In November 2019, the company acquired Gurugram-based video entertainment app Roposo.

It’s latest venture Glance has partnered with leading Android phone manufacturers in India and as of November 2019, Glance claims to have more than 60 Mn daily active users who spend about 22 minutes per day with the content surfaced by Glance. It also claims to have over 150 Bn glances a month across 19 categories. In September 2019, Glance raised $45 Mn in a fresh funding round from Mithril Capital.

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