BharatPe clocks 182% revenue growth in FY23

Fintech startup BharatPe said its revenue from operations jumped 182% year-on-year to ₹904 crore in the financial year 2022-23 compared with ₹321 crore in FY22.

The unicorn claimed that its losses before tax plunged from ₹5,594 crore in FY22 to ₹886 crore during the last financial year.

The payment firm's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) loss also narrowed by ₹158 crore.

In the lending vertical, BharatPe's merchant lending division witnessed 129% growth in loans facilitated hitting ₹5,339 crore. The company also introduced new revenue streams, including QR usage, credit card bill payments, and utility payments.

Its swipe business witnessed a 63% increase in total payment volume and it installed approximately 8 lakh new soundbox devices in FY23.

“We are thrilled to announce yet another year of exceptional performance at BharatPe. The significant growth across our business verticals, coupled with improved financial metrics, underscores our commitment to creating value for our merchants and stakeholders. These results are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, as well as the trust and support of our valued customers,” says Nalin Negi, chief financial officer and interim CEO, BharatPe.

“Going forward, our strategic focus is on sustained profitability, scaling lending, POS, and soundbox businesses, and launching new merchant-centric products. We are committed to building a sustainable business, fostering financial inclusion, nurturing our partnerships and establishing BharatPe as a leading merchant-first fintech company in the country,” Negi says.

BharatPe had turned EBITDA positive in October. The Gurugram-headquartered company significantly cut down its burn, which was averaging at ₹60 crore a month in FY23, to attain a positive EBITDA.

Founded in 2018, BharatPe caters to offline merchants and kirana store owners in the country. The unicorn, which had last raised $370 million in 2021 at a valuation of $2.8 billion, is backed by investors such as Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India), Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global, and Insight Partners.

BharatPe received a small finance bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in October 2021. The startup launched Postpe, an app with over 15 million downloads, in the same month, breaking into the "buy now, pay later" market. In January this year, the startup received in-principle authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an online payment aggregator.

In 2022, BharatPe initiated action against its ousted co-founder Ashneer Grover to claw back his restricted shares as per the shareholders’ agreement. Madhuri Jain Grover, BharatPe’s former head of controls, was accused of using self-created ‘fake’ and ‘forged invoices’ for her personal enrichment.

The Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police had registered an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri and other family members for allegedly misappropriating the company’s funds and causing a loss of ₹81.28 crore.