Valued At $5 Bn, Meesho’s Losses Near INR 500 Cr In FY21 After 2X Surge In Expenses

Social commerce giant Meesho has witnessed a 158% rise in its sales revenue in the financial year ending on March 31, 2021. 

The Meta-backed startup has posted a revenue from sales worth INR 792.8 Cr in FY21, a 2.5X rise from INR 306.9 Cr it witnessed in FY20. 

The startup generated a revenue of INR 45.8 Cr from its other income in FY21, a slight jump from INR 41.7 Cr in FY20. With earning from revenue and other income combined, the startup has generated a total revenue of INR 838.6 Cr in FY21, a 140% jump from INR 348.7 Cr in FY20.

Further, the startup’s expenses almost doubled from FY20 to FY21. The Bengaluru-based startup which is as per media reports is eyeing for a potential IPO in 2023 has spent INR 1,337.3 Cr in FY21, a 2X jump from INR 655.3 Cr it shelled out in FY20. 

In other words, Meesho has spent INR 1 to earn INR 0.59 paise. 

While employee benefit expenses which comprises salaries of employees, PF contribution, gratuity and other employee welfare benefits were pegged at INR 149.3 Cr, a noticeable jump from INR 106.8 Cr in FY20. 

It must be highlighted that Meesho last year had announced an ESOP plan for all its employees irrespective of their seniority. The announcement in November came on the heels of Meesho announcing its second ESOP buyback worth $5.5 Mn.  

The startup’s other expense almost was the primary reason behind its high expense in FY21. Between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, Meesho other expenses were pegged at INR 1,179.1 Cr in FY21 from INR 540 Cr. 

To further break down, Meesho counts rent, telephone postage, advertisement among its other expenses. The startup has spent a whopping INR 424.1 Cr in FY21 for advertisement and promotion activities as compared to INR 217.4 Cr it did in FY20. 

It witnessed a total loss after tax of INR 498.6 Cr in FY21, 62.5% jump from INR 306.6 Cr it saw in FY20. 

The other expenses also includes INR 632.3 Cr it has spent as logistics and fulfillment expenses, this is almost 2.5X from INR 254.4 Cr it has shelled for the same, thus indicating increasing sales and wider postal code coverage in terms of delivery. 

Founded by Vidit Atrey and Sanjeev Banwal in 2015, Meesho is a social commerce platform which enables individuals and small businesses to sell their products by sourcing it from resellers and then selling it to potential customers on Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms. 

The startup in the last year has received funding close to $900 Mn in three funding rounds. Meesho last raised $570 Mn led by Fidelity Management and B Capital Group along with SoftBank, Prosus Ventures, Facebook, among others at $5 Bn valuation.

It has to date raised a little over a billion dollars in funding across multiple rounds. Meesho, for sometime had dominated the social commerce place, is now competing against the likes of new entrants to the unicorn club – Dealshare, Flipkart-backed Shopsy, Shopee, B2B unicorn Udaan. 

The social commerce platform is also witnessing the rise of new players coming in to take a bite of the pie. Just today another social commerce platform CityMall bagged $75 Mn in its Series C round, Delhi-NCR based Trell is also in talks for $100 Mn, and another social commerce startup Woovly is in talks with Zomato-backed Shiprocket for a $5Mn round. 

According to a Bain & Company report, India’s social commerce gross merchandise value was pegged at $2 Bn in 2020 and is expected to reach $20 Bn by 2025, thus indicating the major role it will play in the entire ecommerce market which is also seeing a new trend emerge – quick commerce.