Also in this letter:
■ SoftBank likely sold 1.09% Zomato stake
■ ETtech Deals Digest
■ Poshmark to exit India, two other countries
Paytm Q2 Results: Loss narrows to Rs 290 crore; revenue jumps 32% YoY
One 97 Communications, the the parent firm of Paytm on Friday said that its consolidated quarterly loss fell 49% from a year earlier to Rs 291.7 crore, for the quarter ending September 30. It had reported a loss of Rs 571.5 crore, for the same period, last year.
Revenue growth continues: The Noida-headquartered financial services company said its operational revenues grew roughly 32% on a yearly basis to Rs 2,518.6 crore for the September quarter. According to the company, revenue growth is led by increase in gross transaction value (GTV) on the platform, merchant subscription revenues, and growth of loans distributed through our platform.
Also read | Paytm Payments Bank disables international transactions on debit cards
Key metrics: In the second quarter of FY24, One 97 saw payment revenues grow to Rs 1,524 crore, a 7% quarterly growth sequentially. It also saw growth in subscription revenues from merchants which opt for its Soundbox device and other value added services. As of September 2023, merchant subscriptions were at 92 Lakh, increasing by 44 Lakh YoY and 14 Lakh QoQ.
Financial distribution model: One 97 which makes revenues from distribution of loans to both merchants and consumers saw revenue from financial services stand at Rs 571 crore in Q2 of 2024. In Q2 FY 24, the value of loans distributed through the platform stood at Rs 16,211 crore.
Also read | ETtech In-depth | Inside Paytm’s cashback offers for retailers
Festive cheer: Airline bookings up 90%; smartphone sales grow 25%
Indians seem to be splurging with a vengeance this festive season. Whether it’s big travel plans or getting their hands on the latest consumer electronics, customers are making the most of the ecommerce sales bonanza that began over a week ago.
Up in the air: Bookings for air travel rose 90% during Flipkart’s annual Big Billion Days sale compared with the business-as-usual period, Cleartrip CFO Aditya Agarwal told ET in an interview. While bus bookings at the online travel agency grew 80%, the biggest jump was in hotel bookings, which expanded three times.
Quote, unquote: “We have never seen an event of this scale in the travel sector before. We have obviously seen what this event has done for the ecommerce industry. We have been very excited to bring this into the OTA (online travel agency) space and see how it can deliver the same goods for travel,” said Agarwal.
Premium phones in demand: Sales of premium smartphones grew both in value and volume between October 8 and 15 when Amazon and Flipkart had their flagship events, the Great Indian Festival and and Big Billion Days, respectively, according to data from technology market research firm Counterpoint Research. Premium smartphones from Apple and Samsung spearheaded the stellar show, helping lift overall sales.
By the numbers: According to the data, the premium segment saw 50% year-on-year (YoY) growth on Flipkart, driven by the sales of the iPhone 14 and Galaxy S21 FE. On Amazon, the segmental growth was almost 200% YoY, driven by sales of the iPhone 13 and Galaxy S23 FE.
SoftBank likely sold 1.09% Zomato stake worth Rs 1,000 crore
SoftBank, through its affiliate SVF Growth Singapore Pte, is likely to have sold 1.09% equity in Zomato in a bulk deal worth Rs 1,040.5 crore on Friday.
Trade on: Zomato shares closed 1.8% higher at Rs 113.70 on the BSE today. SoftBank held a 2.17% stake in the company at the end of the September quarter.
SoftBank has been paring its stake in Zomato as the lock-in for the post-Blinkit deal ended in August. As of June end, the Japanese investor, through its affiliate, held a 3.35% stake.
Previous block deal: In August this year, SoftBank had offloaded about 1.17% stake in Zomato via a block deal, which was valued at Rs 947 crore.
Morgan Stanley, Nomura, Kotak Mahindra MF, Invesco MF, Goldman Sachs, Franklin Templeton MF, Avendus, Societe Generale, among others picked up stakes.
On October 6, SoftBank offloaded a partial stake in PB Fintech through a Rs 869 crore block deal.
Also read | Zomato shares hit 52-week high of Rs 105.90; m-cap nears $ 11 billion
ETtech Deals Digest: Early-stage deals in focus as startup funding remains muted at $146 million this week
Indian startups secured $146 million in funding across 22 rounds this week, down 70% from last year’s $494 million across 46 rounds, according to market research firm Tracxn. Funding activity dipped 11%, compared to last week’s $164 million, secured across 21 rounds.
Peak XV Partners’ (formerly Sequoia India) $35 million investment in wealth and asset management platform Neo Group was the biggest funding round of the week.
Early-stage startups dominated the action this week, grabbing half of the total funding pie. Late-stage and seed-stage funding accounted for 35% and 14.5% share, respectively.
Here is a list of startups that got funded this week
Poshmark to exit India, shut marketplace on October 26
Online social shopping platform Poshmark is exiting India and two other countries to focus on core markets.
Details: The US-based e-commerce firm, which specialises in the sale of second-hand products, informed customers via email that it will be shutting its India marketplace on October 26. It is also reportedly closing operations in Australia and the UK.
Note to users: “And while our ambition remains to connect as many closets as possible, we’ve made the tough decision to close our Poshmark India marketplace. The Poshmark India market place will close October 26, 2023. This decision allows us to focus our energy and increase our investments in our core markets, the US and Canada,” the firm said in the email.
Catch up quick: The US-based ecommerce firm had launched its India operations in September 2021. In October 2022, Poshmark was acquired by South Korean ecommerce firm Naver Corp in a $1.2 billion deal.
Today’s ETtech Top 5 was curated by Megha Mishra in Mumbai and Gaurab Dasgupta in New Delhi.
