Fintech giant PhonePe posted 77% growth in revenue and higher operating loss in FY23, as the company continues to expand to new business offerings after a mega fundraise.
The Sameer Nigam-led company posted a consolidated revenue of Rs 2,914 crore in FY23, up 77% from Rs 1,646 crore in FY22. However, its Ebitda loss swelled to Rs 1,755 crore from Rs 1,612 crore for the year on higher ESOP costs.
Excluding ESOP expenses, Ebitda turned positive at Rs 159 crore in FY23, against a negative Rs 455 crore in FY22. "Substantial ESOPs were granted in FY23 towards the corporate restructuring and as one-time rewards for setting up and incentivising new business," the company said in a statement.
PhonePe's growth in revenue is driven by its focus on market expansion and "leadership in the digital payments market, especially in major revenue-contributing use cases like money transfers, mobile recharges and bill payments", it said.
"FY23 has been a pivotal year for PhonePe—we continued our rapid top-line growth, diversified our revenue from non-payment businesses, progressed towards positive Ebitda (before ESOP costs) and executed key strategic actions geared towards long-term future growth," the statement said.
The company's market share of the total volume of UPI payments stood at 50.5% at the end of FY23, it said. "Furthermore, revenue growth was also driven by the launch and scale-up of new products and businesses, such as smart speakers, rent payments, and insurance distribution."
FY23 marked a significant year for PhonePe, as it completed its spinoff from the Flipkart Group and moved its domicile to India from Singapore, despite a substantial tax outgo.
It also completed a Rs 7,021-crore fundraise from investors like General Atlantic Service Co., Walmart Stores Inc., Ribbit Capital, TVS Capital Funds and Tiger Global at a $12 billion pre-money valuation.
"The fundraise equips us with the required capital to invest behind new businesses, which in turn will simultaneously grow and diversify our revenue and profit pools. Going forward, our focus will remain on strengthening our leadership position in digital payments, while growing the business sustainably and profitably," it said.
"We believe the combination of our sustainable and profitable payments business, along with the suite of new businesses will result in a well-diversified revenue portfolio, with robust growth and group level profitability in the ensuing years," the company said.