Online investing platform Groww posted over 2.5x growth in its net profit for the FY22 to Rs 6.8 crore from Rs 2.6 crore in the previous fiscal.
The Tiger Global company, which turned unicorn in April 2021, saw its revenue from operations jump nearly 8x to Rs 348 crore in FY22, against Rs 40.5 crore in the previous year, as per its annual financial statement filed with the Registrar of Companies. Revenue from domestic services stood at Rs 324 crore.
Founded in 2016 by former Flipkart executives Neeraj Singh, Harsh Jain, Lalit Keshre and Ishan Bansal, Groww is an online investment platform which allows users to invest in stocks, direct mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and initial public offerings (IPOs).
Groww, operated by Nextbillion Technology Pvt. Ltd, also provides tools for stock and portfolio analysis to investors.
The company declined to comment on queries regarding its financials review.
The wealth management had raised two large rounds in the financial year 2021. The company bagged $251 million in October 2021 in its Series E round led by Iconiq Growth. The fundraise nearly tripled its valuation to $3 billion in a little over six months.
The company claims to have over 40 million users on its platform. It launched stock investments on its platform in July last year and recently launched futures and options (F&O) investment in IPO and sovereign gold bonds on its platform.
Groww’s expenses for FY22 grew 775% to Rs 359.4 crore, up from Rs 41 crore in the previous fiscal, with a sharp rise in IT, advertising, and employee costs. The company’s IT expense, which includes software, server and platform charges, ballooned to Rs 145.5 crore in FY22, compared to Rs 16.87 crore in the previous fiscal.
The company’s expenditure on advertising grew substantially to Rs 52.2 crore from just Rs 79 lakh in FY21. Whereas, its employee benefits expense jumped to Rs 66.8 crore in FY22, up from Rs 10.32 crore.
In FY22, Groww acquired Indiabulls Asset Management Company Ltd's mutual fund business for a total of Rs 175 crore. The acquisition helped Groww offer newer investment products to its users.
In the wealth management and investment space, Groww pits against Zerodha, Upstox, Kuvera, 5Paisa, and AngelOne, among others. However, in comparison to most of its rivals, it has a larger user base, courtesy of mutual fund investment services.
