Urban Company Slips Into Red In Q2, Posts INR 59 Cr Loss

After turning profitable in the run up to its IPO, consumer services major Urban Company plunged into loss in Q2 FY26. The company reported a multifold rise in its net loss to INR 59.3 Cr during the quarter from INR 1.8 Cr in Q2 FY25. In Q1 FY26, the company had reported a net profit of INR 6.9 Cr.

Operating revenue zoomed 37% YoY and 4% QoQ to INR 380 Cr in Q2 FY26. Including other income of INR 32.6 Cr, its total income for the quarter surged 36% YoY to INR 412.7 Cr. Total expenses for the quarter rose 51% YoY to INR 461.7 Cr.

Adjusted EBITDA loss stood at INR 35 Cr as against an adjusted EBITDA loss of INR 5 Cr in the year-ago quarter. In its shareholder letter, the company said that its new service Insta Help, under which it provides housekeeping services in 15 minutes, contributed an adjusted EBITDA loss of INR 44 Cr in the quarter. 

“The business delivered strong growth across all segments this quarter. However, we moved from adjusted EBITDA profitability to a loss, driven by upfront investments in building the Insta Help category. We expect consolidated adjusted EBITDA losses to continue in the near term as we invest meaningfully in this category,” it said. 

The company’s net transaction value (NTV) increased 31% YoY to INR 1,030 Cr. Annual transacting users on the platform stood at 74 Lakh at the end of the September quarter. Urban Company has a presence in 51 cities and 57,251 service professionals use the platform on a monthly basis. 

The company, which made its stock market debut in September, offers services such as plumbing, AC repair, and painting. Urban Company entered the quick commerce arena with the launch of Insta Help in March. 

Beyond services, it offers end-to-end home management solutions via its new business categories – Native (which offers water purifiers and electronic door locks) and Revamp (wall decor solutions). 

The company raised INR 472 Cr via a fresh issue of shares in its IPO. Its investors sold shares worth INR 1,428 Cr through the OFS. 

It had turned profitable in FY25, reporting a net profit of INR 239.7 Cr as against a loss of INR 92.7 Cr in FY24. Operating revenue jumped 38.2% to INR 1,144.4 Cr from INR 828 Cr in FY24.

Despite the loss in Q2, CEO Abhiraj Singh Bhal said that the company is at the beginning stage of its journey and has immense growth potential. 

“The Indian home services market remains largely unorganised and fragmented, with less than 1% penetration online. Over the next decade and beyond, our ambition is to build a trusted home platform that becomes the backbone of urban living and makes home management effortless,” he said.

With that, here’s a breakdown of the financial performance of the business verticals of Urban Company in Q2. 

Insta Help Hits Bottom Line

Insta Help’s loss zoomed 5X to INR 42.9 Cr during the quarter under review from INR 9.2 Cr in Q1. The segment registered a revenue of INR 1.4 Cr in Q2, growing 7X from INR 22 Lakh in its first quarter of the year.

Urban Company said that Insta Help has scaled to 4.7 Lakh orders as of October since its launch, despite limited coverage.

It expects the vertical to become a large, high-frequency business moving forward and plans to make upfront investments to scale the new category.

“Early indicators for Insta Help are encouraging, with strong consumer adoption and repeat usage. We view this category as a significant long-term opportunity and believe these investments are important to sustaining market leadership. We remain disciplined in evaluating returns on these spends while continuing to improve margins across the core business to return to overall consolidated profitability,” it said.

India Consumer Services’ Profit Shrinks

Amid all these, Urban Company’s bread-and-butter home care services business saw a decline in margins. 

The profit of the India consumer services vertical plunged 62% YoY to INR 10.1 Cr.

However, the segment’s top line increased 24% YoY to INR 262 Cr during the quarter under review. NTV also rose 19% YoY to INR 762 Cr amid an uptick in users, steady revenue retention and sustained traction for the core offering. 

The company attributed the YoY decline in profit to investments in training and audits, user acquisition, improving timelines of fulfilment, customer support and team expansion. 

Urban Company Sees Strong Signs For Global Business

Outside of India, the company has a footprint across the UAE, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Australia. This international business contributed INR 41.2 Cr to its top line in Q2, growing 7% YoY.

The segment also turned profitable during the quarter under review, raking in a profit of INR 43 Lakh as against a loss of INR 12.9 Cr in the previous year’s quarter.

The international segment’s NTV grew 73% YoY to INR 160 Cr, buoyed by strong growth across the UAE and Singapore. The company achieved adjusted EBITDA breakeven across combined operations in the UAE and Singapore. 

In line with the strong traction it witnessed in the aforementioned markets, Urban Company said it would set up a new wholly owned subsidiary in the UAE with an investment of INR 3 Cr. 

The new subsidiary will be engaged in the business of general trading activities, including selling products to aggregators/ third-party service providers who offer services on the Urban Company platform in the UAE, as well as the sale of Native products in the country. 

Meanwhile, the company is winding up its operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Its subsidiary Urban Company Arabia will be liquidated within five to six months. 

Important to note that the company isn’t exactly leaving KSA. It has transferred Urban Company Arabia’s operations to a joint venture it formed in the country with a local entity, WAED Khadmat Al-Munzal.

“As Urban Company Arabia is no longer operational, the board has approved its voluntary winding up and closure of the said step-down subsidiary,” it said in a separate disclosure.

Native’s Revenue Surges 

Urban Company’s consumer durables arm Native, under which it has been selling water purifiers and smart door locks since 2023, saw its revenue zoom 179% YoY to INR 75.4 Cr in Q2 FY26 from INR 27 Cr in the year-ago quarter.

The vertical’s NTV grew 167% YoY to INR 97 Cr.

However, the business continued to be in the red, reporting a loss of INR 10.9 Cr. It had reported a loss of INR 10.8 Cr in the year-ago quarter and a loss of INR 10.9 Cr in the preceding June quarter. 

Shares of Urban Company ended Friday’s trading session 1.84% higher at INR 157.55 on the BSE.

(Edited by: Vinaykumar Rai)