Quick commerce company Zepto’s losses widened three times to Rs 1,272 crore in the FY 2022-23, against Rs 390.3 crore in FY22, as per regulatory filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
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The start-up’s revenues from operations increased 14 times to Rs 2,024 crore during the period, compared to Rs 140.7 crore in the previous year.
The platform’s total expenses came in at Rs 3,350 crore, a six-fold increase from Rs 532.7 crore in FY22. This means, to earn a rupee, Zepto spent about Rs 1.7 during the year. This is down from Rs 3.7 it had to spend in FY22 for each rupee earned.
Taking a deeper dive into the expenses, it is evident that Zepto spent the most on purchase of stock-in-trade, for which it shelled out Rs 1,894 crore during the year, compared to Rs 213.2 crore in FY22. The quick commerce company’s employee benefit expenses also shot up over five times and stood at Rs 263.4 crore in FY23 versus Rs 50.3 crore a year ago.
Despite the widening losses, the company improved its profit after tax (PAT) margin from 277 per cent in FY22 to 63 per cent in FY23. The company noted that it was on track to achieving Ebitda breakeven (excluding ESOP and other statutory non-cash line items) in the next 10 months, while continuing to grow the business meaningfully.
The regulatory filings highlighted that Zepto has grown 300 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) this year and its dark stores — that contribute to over 50 per cent of the business — are now profitable.
In August this year, the company raised $200 million in a series E funding round. The latest fund raise has brought the company’s valuation at a $1.4 billion, making it a unicorn. The round was led by the StepStone Group, a Baltimore-based institutional asset manager, which is also a Limited Partner (LP) of existing investor Nexus Venture Partners.
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Zepto competes with the likes of Swiggy, Instamart and Zomato-owned Blinkit.
