Ratan Tata-backed home services startup Urban Company reported a loss of Rs 514 crore for FY22 compared to Rs 249 crore in FY21. The company's operating revenue for FY22 came in at Rs 437.6 crore up 76.7 percent from Rs 247.7 crore in the previous year.
The Tiger Global and Prosus-backed startup's revenue from India operations stood at Rs 395 crore while the company made Rs 42.5 crores from international operations during the period mentioned above, according to annual financial statements with the Registrar of Companies. Besides India, the company operates in Singapore, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, UAE and the US.
However, the company’s growth comes on the back of expenses ballooning 89.8 percent to around Rs 1,023 crore in FY22 from Rs 539 crore in FY21.
Employee benefits expense shot up to Rs 443.8 crore in FY22, up from Rs 227 crore in FY21, and accounted for nearly 44% of the company’s total expenses. The company spent around Rs 8 crore on finance costs in the fiscal under review, down from Rs 10.1 crore in FY21.
Other expenses - which include marketing, safety material, payment gateway charges, contractual employees pay, and forex loss, among others - stood at Rs 471.8 crore in FY22, from Rs 231.5 crore in FY21.
Founded in 2014 by Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra, Urban Company provides on-demand services including beauty and home services. The company operates in close to 50 cities in India.
In December last year, Urban Company concluded its fourth and the largest employee stock options (Esop) sale programme worth $7.3 million (or roughly Rs 55 crore). The Esop programme valued the startup at $2.8 billion.
The startup had raised $255 million (about Rs 1866.7 crore) in Series F in June last year at a $2.1 billion valuation, joining the elite unicorn club. The round was led by Prosus Ventures, Dragoneer Investment Group and Wellington Management, and comprised primary and secondary capital infusion.
Prior to this, Urban Company had raised close to $75 million in a round led by Tiger Global in August 2019. The round had valued the startup at a near unicorn valuation of $1 billion.
