Fractal Records Revenue of Rs 1,300 Cr in FY22, but Experiences Losses

Fractal Latest Startup News

Fractal, an Artificial Intelligence firm, became part of the unicorn club after raising $360 million from TPG in January this year. This resulted in the company being valued at $1 billion. In the previous fiscal year (FY21), Fractal's revenue had approached Rs 1,300 crore, and this number increased to Rs 1,295 crore in FY22, a 48.3% growth. 96% of the total revenue was from analytics and consulting services, which grew 44.1% to Rs 1,244 crore in FY22. Collection from subscription and licensing fees ballooned 4 times to Rs 51 cr in FY2022. Additionally, the company made Rs 19 crore from financial instruments.

Employee benefits accounted for 74 percent of overall expenses and surged 72.7 percent to Rs 1,088 cr in FY2022 from Rs 630 cr in FY2021. Legal and professional fees also shot up 73.5% to Rs 85 crore in FY22. Software maintenance charges and insurance each added Rs 28 cr, pushing the overall cost by 73.7 percent to Rs 1,461 cr during the last year. This resulted in the company slipping into losses (Rs 148 crore) in FY22, compared to a profit of Rs 36 crore in FY21. Its EBITDA and ROCE margin also turned negative with -4.91% and -9.26% respectively.

Fractal's flagship products include Crux Intelligence, Qure.ai, Eugenie.ai, Theremin.ai and Samya.ai. It competes with MuSigma, Tredence, and Quantiphi Analytics, and is eyeing an initial public offering at a $2.5 billion valuation. However, no specific timeline for the IPO has been disclosed yet.

Fractal Chief believes that India will be a major contributor to the upcoming AI revolution. To ensure that the country is able to provide enough talent for this revolution, Fractal has taken the initiative to create the talent present here. With their Imagineer program, they plan to hire talented individuals, teaching them the basics of AI. Furthermore, they have also partnered with Plaksha University, in order to train young individuals in data science and AI. Through these measures, Fractal is confident that it can bridge the talent gap in the Indian AI landscape.

You may also be interested in Uber India's Losses Decline 35% in Fiscal Year 2022

About Fractal

Founded in 2000 in Mumbai, Fractal has grown to become a global company with 3,500 employees across 16 locations, including the US, UK, Ukraine, India, Singapore, and Australia. Led by Group CEO Srikanth Velamakanni and Pranay Agrawal, CEO, Fractal has developed a range of products, such as Qure.ai, which helps radiologists make more accurate diagnoses.

About Entrackr

Entrackr is a digital newsroom devoted to providing incisive analysis and insights on the burgeoning technology and startup ecosystem in India. We cover breaking stories about startups, entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts with a focus on inspiring and empowering these innovators. Our goal is to create an environment that will help to foster an entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. Through our storytelling, technology, and journalism we are building an innovative newsroom that will continue to remain ahead of the curve.

Uber India's Losses Decline 35% in Fiscal Year 2022

Uber India Latest Business News

Uber India's ride-hailing business saw decent growth in FY22, with its collection from the vertical reaching Rs 388 crore. However, the company's revenue for providing support services to group companies decreased by 87.7% to Rs 8.72 crore during the same period. Uber India's operating income was mainly derived from its ride-hailing biz, which grew 29.5% to Rs 388.23 crore in FY22 from Rs 299.7 crore in FY21. The local entity also earned non-operating income and interest on current investments of Rs 163.6 crore, taking its total revenue to Rs 560 crore.

On the expense side, Uber India booked 51% of its expenditure as the cost of materials consumed. Employee advertising cum promotional expenses and benefits declined 63.6% and 44.1%, respectively, to Rs 44 crore and Rs 151 crore during FY22. On the other hand, legal cum professional fees spiked 71.7% to Rs 28.84 crore in FY22 from Rs 16.8 crore in FY21. Uber also incurred Rs 36.28 crore in rent and utility costs. As a result, Uber India's annual expenditure declined 13.4% to Rs 853 crore in FY22 compared to Rs 985 crore in FY21. With controlled expenses, the company cut down its losses by 35.3% to Rs 216 crore last year.

The numbers for Uber India are shockingly unimpressive for the year concluding 2021, as evidenced by its EBITDA margin and return on capital employed (ROCE), which declined to -44.77% and -16.95%, respectively. This sharp decrease could be attributed to lowered employee benefits and promotional expenses on a unit level, as it took, on average, Rs 2.15 to generate a single rupee in operating revenue. 

Despite the growth in FY22, Uber India has failed to deliver on its promise of making personal vehicle ownership redundant. Its driver 'partners' and users seem unhappy with the services, and without a drastic change in approach, the suspicion remains high that the end of the road is never too far away for Uber India. Ultimately, Uber India will have to make significant changes to its approach to remain viable in the long run.

You may also like: Dailyhunt's Parent Company Has Reported a Loss of Rs 2,500 Cr and a Revenue of Rs 965 Cr for the FY22

About Uber 

Uber is a global technology company and platform that has revolutionized how people move. Uber offers a more efficient, reliable, and affordable way to travel than using traditional methods of transportation. Uber provides the convenience of ordering transportation from anywhere using a smartphone app. With just a few taps, users can order a ride from a driver who can take them to their destination safely and reliably. To date, Uber has provided billions of rides to millions of people in countries across the world, providing jobs to drivers and an efficient transportation option to many communities. In addition, Uber offers many other services, such as food delivery and boat and bike rentals. Uber has transformed the industry and changed the way people travel forever.

About Entrackr

Entrackr is an online startup news platform focused on start-ups. It covers the latest news, trends, developments and profiles of start-ups and entrepreneurs in India and across the globe. The platform also offers consulting services and helps in connecting investors and startups. Entrackr's news section covers interactions between entrepreneurs, investors and other talking of the start-up industry. It also includes a list of upcoming events and conferences so readers can stay updated on the happenings of the industry. Entrackr is a great way for startups to stay relevant and up-to-date with happenings in the start-up and venture capital world.

Dailyhunt's Parent Company Has Reported a Loss of Rs 2,500 Cr and a Revenue of Rs 965 Cr for the FY22

Dailyhunt Latest Startup News

VerSe Innovation, which owns vernacular news aggregator Dailyhunt and short video entertainment app Josh, continues to lose money, with its losses more than tripling to Rs 2,500 crore in FY22.

Meanwhile, Dailyhunt operating revenue grew by 45% to Rs 965 cr during the same period, according to its annual financial statements with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The group's entire revenue comes from online advertising and subscription services through its mobile apps and website. A total sum of Rs 19 crore was also made by the company from bank deposits and liabilities which it wrote off during the fiscal year. 

The statements didn't provide any revenue breakdown across Josh and DailyHunt. But a Dailyhunt spokesperson told Entrackr that "100% of VerSe's revenue is from advertising on Dailyhunt, and that ad revenue grew 1.5x year-over-year.

VerSe raised $450 million during FY22, at a valuation of $3 billion, and invested heavily in marketing and creating an ecosystem to enable a creator economy for its app. The company raised an additional $805 million at a $5 billion valuation in April (FY23).

Business promotion expenses were the largest cost, more than doubling to Rs 2,693 crore in FY22 from Rs 1,281 crore in FY21. This cost is 2.8X of the company's operating revenue in FY22.

Employee benefits expense was the second-largest cost for VerSe Innovation, growing by 3.8X to Rs 731 crore in FY22.  It also included the cost of Rs 375 crore on the employee stock option (ESOP) that was settled in cash.

Legal and professional expenses, as well as commissions paid to agents, increased by 4X and 2.7X respectively, to Rs 151 cr & Rs 47 cr in the last year. As a result, the company's total cost grew by 2.3 times to Rs 3,714 cr in FY22 from Rs 1,580 cr in year 2021.

With this increase in expenses, DailyHunt's parent company's losses rose by 3.17 times to Rs 2,563 cr in FY2022. Its cash outflows from operating activities also increased by 2.52 times to Rs 2,402 cr, while the company's unit economics also took a hit and spent Rs 3.85 to earn a single rupee in FY2022. "In the last 7 months Dailyhunt has grown to 8% EBITDA positive," they added.

Dailyhunt competes with Inshorts in the news aggregation and hyper-local video business, while its short video app Josh competes with MX TakaTak, ShareChat's Moj, YouTube Shorts and Instagram, among others.

Also Read: Paytm Mall Records Rs282 Cr Revenue and Rs142 Cr Loss

Josh, which launched in late 2020, has been losing money in marketing the app and also attracting top creators. 

However, VerSe's spokesperson clarified that Josh's monetization began in August and is expected to reach $100 million in annual recurring revenue during FY23. With Daily Hunt already close to Rs 1,000 crore in revenue, the company is well-placed to monetize its inventory as and when the market demands. 

For more latest startup news & information, stay tuned to Entrackr.

Paytm Mall Records Rs282 Cr Revenue and Rs142 Cr Loss

Paytm Latest Startup News

Paytm Mall, the e-commerce platform of Paytm, has been trying to find a sustainable model for the past two years. The Paytm Mall’s revenue from operations grew to Rs 282 crore during the fiscal year ending March 2022 from Rs 277 crore in FY21, according to its annual financial statement with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). Sales of products contributed 49.6% of the company's total operating revenue.

Revenue from Paytm Mall grew 85.3% to Rs 139.9 cr. Commission collected from merchants and sellers for providing platform services accounted for 45% of the total collection during FY22, which declined 27% to Rs 126.9 crore from the preceding fiscal year's revenue of Rs 12.7 crore. The company also booked revenue of Rs 8.6 crore during FY22 as a marketing promotion fee for providing advertising services on its platform; this income surged 47.7% from Rs 6.5 crore in FY20. In FY22, the company also collected operating revenue of around Rs 3 crore and recovered claims from courier companies; Paytm Mall also recorded non-operating income of Rs 21.6 cr from liabilities written back & Rs 80.4 cr as interest income related to bank deposits, royalty accounting adjustments, and others which drove the total revenue to Rs 384 crore during FY22.

Interestingly, only 53% of revenue in FY22 came from India with the rest from other countries. The 47% revenue Paytm Mall's revenue came from offshore markets is even odder when one considers that it doesn't have an effective presence in any overseas markets. On the expense front, royalty fees paid in exchange for services received from One97 Communications Limited (Paytm) turned out to be the largest cost element, forming 23% of its total expenditure. For those who aren't familiar with it, Paytm Mall isn't a subsidiary of One97 Communications Limited, but has been licensed to use the Paytm brand, and run on the Paytm app; however, employees don't receive benefits and advertising/promotional expenses declined 29.7% and 59%.

It costs money to run a business, and the cost of connectivity and payment gateway charges decreased by 43% in FY22 from Rs 36.9 crore in FY21 to Rs 21.1 crore. Paytm Mall's expenditure decreased by 43% to Rs 526 crore in FY22, resulting in a loss of Rs 142 crore during that period. The company also booked an exceptional item of Rs 398 crore as an impairment of goodwill taking the losses to Rs 540 crore, as per annual statements filed with the MCA portal. This could be attributed to $398 worth of impairment of goodwill booked under non-cash adjustment.

Entrackr has excluded this expense while calculating overall losses and ratios; Its costs such as connectivity and payment gateway charges have decreased by 43% in FY22 to Rs 21.1 crore from Rs 36.9 crore in FY21. The company's expenditure for Paytm Mall also decreased by 43% to Rs 526 crore during FY22. As a result, the losses of the company decreased to Rs 142 crore in FY22. The company also booked an exceptional item of Rs 398 cr as an impairment of goodwill taking its overall losses to Rs 540 cr, as per the annual statements filed to the MCA portal. Entrackr has excluded this expense while calculating the overall losses and ratios so far; however, we will be running a separate analysis on that at a later date. The EBITDA margin and ROCE improved to -27.34% and -12.88% during FY22.

Also Read: Top Benefits of Virtual Workspace

In May, the e-commerce marketplace Paytm Mall pivoted from the traditional physical goods marketplace to join the government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). Meanwhile, Paytm Mall’s early and key backers Alibaba and Ant Financial took an exit from the Bengaluru-based company. While no longer a subsidiary, deep legacy relationships with former parent One97 are nowhere close to unwinding soon; as evident in the numbers. For a truly sustainable future, it needs to look at every cost harder in that respect and build further on the new opportunities it is mining now.

For more latest startup news & information, stay tuned to Entrackr.

CCI Fines MakeMyTrip and OYO for Anti-Competitive Conduct

MakeMyTrip and OYO Startup News

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has fined MakeMyTrip and Oyo for anti-competitive conduct in hotel room listings. The CCI has fined both companies 5% of their annual turnover for a period of 3 years; Oyo was fined Rs 168.88 cr, while Make My Trip was fined Rs 223.48 cr.

The decision comes after complaints from budget hotel chains that the companies’ vertical integration agreement was creating dominance in the online hotel booking market, and that MakeMyTrip was deep discounting and enforcing terms that prevented rooms from being cheaper on other platforms. 

In a statement, Oyo indicated that the platform would appeal the ruling, saying "OYO believes that our business practices and conduct comply with all applicable laws & will take all necessary steps to explain our position in the appropriate forums."

A MakeMyTrip spokesperson also said the company would explore an appeal, saying that the platform was compliant with Indian laws. The spokesperson went on to say that "The CCI’s order is appealable before the National Company Appellate Tribunal within 60 days. We’ll determine our future action as per of our legal counsels advice .” 

The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has welcomed the order. In a statement, FHRAI president Pradeep Shetty said, "This is by far one of the biggest wins for the hospitality industry against the dominance of the aggregators." 

Shetty added, "Oyo especially is responsible for the systemic depredation of the budget segment hotel business and its market as a means to achieve a notional billion-dollar valuation. This is a serious concern for our country’s hospitality ecosystem.” 

In addition to paying penalties, “MMT Go is directed to modify the agreements with hotels/chain hotels, to remove/abandon the price and room availability parity obligations imposed by it on its chain hotel partners w.r.t. other OTAs,” the order said. This essentially means that MMT cannot force hotels chains it has partnered with to offer higher prices or identical on other platforms. 

Also Read: LeadSquared's Revenue Hits Rs 200 Cr in FY22, Losses Jump 5.4X

The commission also ordered that hotel listings be offered on a transparent basis on the platform. The order will be appealed by both firms, but they should consider a defense based on their shrinking market shares in the segment. Anecdotal evidence indicates a strong push by many of their 'partner' hotels chains to not accepting such bookings made on these platforms as far as possible.

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LeadSquared's Revenue Hits Rs 200 Cr in FY22, Losses Jump 5.4X

LeadSquared Startup News

LeadSquared, a software as service (SaaS) platform, has become a unicorn after it raised $153 million through a Series C financing round with WestBridge Capital and existing investors in June 2022. The company's admission into the $1 billion or more valuation club came on the heels of a two-fold increase in its size in FY22.

LeadSquared has continued to grow, and its revenue from operations increased to 193.5 crores for FY22, up from the previous figure of 99.5 million in FY21, according to its financial statements that were filed at the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

LeadSquared offers complete marketing, sales, as well as automation for onboarding to its clients. According to Fintrackr's analysis, the sale of these solutions is the sole source of operating income for the business in FY22. The company also earned Rs 7.1 million in FY22, mostly by selling its financial assets.

In terms of cost, Employee benefits are the most significant expense for the business accounting for approximately half of the total expenses and grew 2.3X to approximately Rs 142.2 crores in FY22.

As a SaaS business, the expense of technical services is significant, soaring 2.4X to around Rs 58 crore in FY22. Promotion and advertising costs and business support costs also increased by 2.6X in both 2.4X to approximately 9.76 crores and the equivalent of Rs 16.21 crore, respectively, during the previous fiscal year.

The company also spent an additional 1321 rupees 13.21 crore for professional and legal fees, which increased its total costs to 2.3X to 262.3 crores in FY22.

With all the major cost centres expanding faster than revenue growth in FY22, the company's losses also increased 5.4X to around 62 crores in the final fiscal year, up from 11.3 crores in FY 21. 11.3 million in FY21.

On a per-unit basis, LeadSquared spent Rs 1.36 for a single rupee. With a dramatic rise in its costs and its EBITDA ROI and margin, this business decreased to -28.58 percent and -42.73 percent for the fiscal year that ended March 2022.

Also read:

• Fast Food Chain Wow! Momo Raises $16 Million in Series D

• Top Benefits of Virtual Workspace You Must Know

LeadSquared said it has more than 2000 customers in its most recent fundraising. Apart from Bengaluru, the company has offices throughout New Jersey, the Philippines, South Africa, Australia, and Indonesia. In examining the company's revenue and profits, it can be seen that it has a 38X the revenue multiplier for its value, an amount that is sure to rise with growth in the coming years too. Nilesh Patel, CEO of LeadSquared, has recently stated that the company plans to earn the amount of $200 million (Rs 1600 crore) in revenues over the coming three to four years.

Follow one of the best platforms for the latest startup news, Entrackr to get all the latest happenings in the startup world.

Winzo File a Claim Against Google for Not Authorising Non-Rummy Games on Play Store

Winzo Games Latest Startup News

Winzo, the producer of Poker and Rummy like games application said on Tuesday it was filing a complaint against Google in Delhi High Court that "Google is discriminating and is not authorising Non-Rummy games on the Play Store. Winzo says that Google is partial and it only permits Rummy and unrealistic sports games on the app store. 

Winzo also claims that Google, which is not against gambling and betting in India is doing discrimination against them by not allowing real money-making apps on the play store. Google has declared recently that it was doing a one-year pilot with the Rummy and Dream Sports app. 

Why is Winzo so upset with Google? & What was the Major Issue that Caused the Rift Between Winzo and Google? 

All this started in March of this year. Winzo sued Google in March because of the warning that Google Chrome used to show every time on the cell phones, whenever someone attempts to download the Winzo application that says "Document may be destructive". This was the common warning that used to display among most of the individuals who were about to download this real money-making app, Winzo. 

Recently, Winzo again filed a claim against Google on 20th September for not authorising Winzo games and fantasy games on Play Store. Winzo is one of the numerous industry players like MPL and Zupee who have declared Google's pilot policy with Rummy and fantasy games erratic, biased and prohibitive. Winzo and the other organisations declared this in front of the media in its most recent suit.

If You are Wondering What was the Reaction of Google on Winzo's claim? Here it is;

Google refused to remark: The organisation has never restricted any of the real cash gaming applications on the Play Store. Another hearing of this case was on 22nd September (Thursday).

In the court records collected by Entrackr, the lawyers from Google's side told that this claim was "waggish, meaning-less and reductant" quarrelling that Google Chrome and all the other browsers display a similar warning for all the APK files that are being downloaded from the platforms other than Play Store. The lawyers from Google's side said that the IT Rules 2021 permitted it to show that brief as a safety effort.

Google presented the reviews from Winzo's iOS application, which is also accessible on the Play Store, where various customers claims about being deceived by the real money gaming apps or incapable to clear out their money or withdrawals.

What does the Co-founder of Winzo Comment about the Situation with Entrackr? 

Saumya Singh Rathore, the co-founder of Winzo told Entracker that Google's narrow scope for this pilot strengthens monopolies organised by fantasy game companies such as Dream11 and harms the producers like Winzo that have many real cash game ideas in their applications.

Rathore also told Entracker that the warning shown by Google Chrome while downloading this real money gaming app was making 75 out of 100 customers, who initiate to downloading the app yet change their mind after seeing the warning. 

You may also like: Fast Food Chain Wow! Momo Raises $16 Million in Series D

Wrapping Up 

Winzo has filed a claim against Google for allegedly breaching antitrust law by not allowing developers to use non-rummy card games in their Play Store. The court's final decision is yet to come. The battle between Winzo and Google is still fresh and will pose to be an interesting one. Be connected with us at Entrackr for the latest startup news and also about this hot topic in the market.

Entrackr - A perfect media platform for the latest startup news

Entrackr is an amazing media platform for startups, business visionaries and tech fanatic individuals. We cover all the latest startup news such as startup funding news and tech startup news.

Fast Food Chain Wow! Momo Raises $16 Million in Series D

Wow! Momo Latest Startup Funding News

Wow! Momo is a quick service restaurant chain founded in August 2008 by a group of entrepreneurs led by Kunal Bahl. They are expanded to over 19 cities and have 425 outlets in India. This startup basically provides everything related to momos only like momo-filled burgers and its desserts also. The company has raised close to $8 million in Series A round of funding led by an individual investor. This Series D round of funding is led by V’oceanInvestment and Oaksand India.

Wow! Momo is headquartered in Kolkata, India with operations in Mumbai, Chennai and more 16 cities. Wow! Momos aims to grow their fast food joint to be an IPO and compete with McDonald’s and Dominos like fast food restaurant chains. The company is rapidly expanding in the country. Mohit Bhargava, an IIT Bombay alumnus, co-founded and incubated the company before crossing the Rs1 crore revenue mark in just three months. 

This startup Wow! Momo has now raised a Series D round of funding. The current funding round is worth Rs 125 crore or $16 million. This most recent round of funding for Wow! Momo brings their total funding to $41 million. Wow! Momo is the first quick service restaurant chain in India to adopt a service-oriented design, which was introduced by Apple.

This startup has raised $16 million in a round led by Tree Line Investment Management. This latest round will take the company to a total of $70 million. In October, Wow! Momo Foods launched its newest range of products at the 35th China Food Expo. The company plans to use the amount to expand its outlets.

Wow! Momo is the first and only QSR serving the Chinese market. It has been established since 2008 and is based in Mumbai. Their food is a blend of East, East and East. Wow! Momo specializes in Chinese cuisine. It is mainly a QSR chain which prepares foods such as fried rice, pork buns, noodles, and wonton. This QSR chain is found in India and Nepal too. It has three QSR brands, Wow! Momo and Wow! China and Wow! Chicken. It is one of the leading QSR chains in India and Nepal.

On 26th March 2016, the startup announced that it has raised $16 million (Rs 100 crore) led by venture capital firm Accel and was seeking to raise another $10.6 million (Rs 70 crore) in the Series D round of funding. As per Fintrackr estimates, Wow! Momo has raised fresh investment at a valuation of $270 million or Rs 2,130 crore post allotment. As per Fintrackr's estimates, Wow! Momo's valuation grew more than 60% in the past year as it was valued at $165-170 million in its Series C round.

Also read: Top Benefits of Virtual Workspace

Wrapping Up

Wow! Momo raised ₹44 crore from Lighthouse funds in 2017, in 2018 they raised 300 crore (US$45 million) from Fabindia, In 2019 130 crore (US$23 million) from Tiger Global Management. So currently, this startup’s financial valuation has crossed 860 crore (US$120 million). Wow! Momo has not filed its financial statements for the last fiscal year but its revenue from operations shrank 36% to Rs 106 in FY21. Meanwhile, the company’s losses ballooned 17X to Rs 59.3 crore in the fiscal year marred with the pandemic.

Follow one of the best platforms for the latest startup news, Entrackr to get all the latest happenings in the startup world.