Unicommerce’s operating revenue rose 15% to INR 103.58 Cr in FY24 from INR 90.06 Cr in FY23
Total expenses rose over 9% to INR 91.9 Cr in FY24 from INR 84.1 Cr in the previous fiscal year
Unicommerce’s IPO, which comprises only an offer-for-sale component of 2.56 Cr equity shares, will open on August 6
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IPO-bound Unicommerce’s net profit more than doubled to INR 13.1 Cr in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) from INR 6.5 Cr reported in the previous year.
The startup, backed by AceVector (formerly Snapdeal), saw its revenue from contracts with customers or operating revenue rise 15% to INR 103.58 Cr in the reported fiscal as against INR 90.06 Cr in FY23.
In that, revenue from contracts with customers outside India increased over 54% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 3.8 Cr.
Total income stood at INR 109.4 Cr in FY24 as against around INR 93 Cr in the previous fiscal.
Unicommerce said in its red herring prospectus (RHP) that the growth of revenue from contracts with customers and annual recurring revenue (ARR) was possible as its revenue model is based on a transaction fee and a monthly minimum commitment for enterprise clients.
“Our pricing and billing model allows us to earn revenue on incremental transactions processed by our clients, allowing us to grow revenues as volumes on our platform increase,” the startup said.
However, it is also pertinent to note that its ARR witnessed a marginal decline of 0.8% YoY in FY24 to INR 106 Cr.
Founded in 2012, Unicommerce is an ecommerce SaaS startup that enables end-to-end management of ecommerce operations for brands, sellers and logistics service provider firms. It was acquired by Snapdeal in 2015, but the latter sold 30% of its stake in Unicommerce to SoftBank later.
The startup said that for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, it had an annual run-rate of processing 791.63 Mn order items for 795 enterprise clients and 2,707 SMB clients.
Unicommerce’s RHP said that it was the largest ecommerce enablement SaaS platform in transaction processing in terms of revenue in FY21, FY22, and FY23, while also being the only profitable entity in this segment among the top five players. Increff, Vinculum, Browntape, and Easyecom are among the other players in the top five.
Zooming Into Expenses
Unicommerce’s total expenses rose over 9% to INR 91.9 Cr in FY24 from INR 84.1 Cr in the previous fiscal year, with employee benefit expenses continuing to account for the largest portion.
Employee Cost: The startup’s employee benefit expenses increased 4.7% to INR 64.9 Cr during the year under review from INR 62 Cr in FY23.
It accounted for 70.64% of the company’s total expenses in FY24, a decline from 73.74% in FY23.
Unicommerce spent INR 57.4 Cr towards salaries, wages and bonuses, while INR 3.7 Cr was spent on share-based payment expenses in FY23.
Server Hosting Expense: Unicommerce’s spending under this head saw a marginal increase of 0.2% YoY to INR 5.41 Cr in FY24.
While the increase in this expense was low in FY24, Unicommerce saw a significant 65.84% YoY increase in server hosting expense in FY23. The startup said that this rise was primarily due to an increase in the use of its platform and in items processed during this period.
Advertisement and Publicity Expense: Unicommerce’s ad expenses witnessed a 3.4% YoY decline to INR 3.8 Cr during the year under review.
Legal and Professional Charges: The company spent INR 3.9 Cr in this bucket in FY24 as against INR 93 Lakh in the previous fiscal.
The public issue of Unicommerce comprises only an offer-for-sale (OFS) component of 2.56 Cr equity shares. Its IPO will open for subscription on August 6 and close on August 8.
Besides Unicommerce, the IPOs of Ola Electric and FirstCry will also open this month. A number of new-age tech startups have gone public in the first seven months of 2024, and this number is expected to increase further amid the IPO boom.
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