Zomato’s FY20 losses widen, revenues see substantial growth

Zomato’s net losses increased by as much as 160.63% to Rs 2,451.17 crore in the year to March 31, 2020, the company’s regulatory filings sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler showed. Revenue from operations grew by a little over 100% y-o-y to Rs 2,336.34 crore. Online ordering, Zomato Gold business and ad sales drive the lion’s share of the company’s revenues.  The company’s total expenses stood at Rs 4,627.75 crore, nearly 40% higher compared to `3,383.56 crore it spent in FY19.

Zomato had earlier said that the firm’s gross merchandise value (GMV) for the core India food delivery business rose to $1,496 million in FY20 from $718 million in FY19, an increase of nearly 108%.  “Unit economics in online ordering improved significantly with increased revenue, lower logistics costs and user discounts,” the Gurgaon-based company said in the financial report filed with the RoC. The firm said it acquired Uber Eats India in FY20, “to become the market leaders in delivery business.”

Food aggregators Zomato and Swiggy saw demand for their delivery services rising manifold amid the pandemic as home-bound consumers took to online ordering of food. Many people explored the concept which otherwise was largely subscribed by corporates and millennials. Zomato claims to have clocked nearly 60% higher GMV on New Year’s Eve 2020 over last year. To put this in perspective, it translates into a GMV of Rs 75 crore in a single day. Peak orders per minute (OPM) touched a rate of 4,254 on the day while Swiggy is understood to have registered 5,500 orders per minute.

In a report published in July last year, Zomato had said that it estimated its monthly burn rate (in July 2020) to “land under $1 million.” Revenues for the month of June 2020 stood at $17 million while Ebitda losses touched $1.5 million. “While Covid-19 has impacted the size of our business, it has accelerated our journey to profitability,” the company had said.

The firm cornered the bulk of the start-up funding garnered by the online food delivery space this year. Zomato closed a $660 million financial round backed by 10 new investors including Tiger Global Management and Mirae Asset at a post-money valuation of $3.9 billion.