BharatPe turns EBITDA positive; annualised revenue crosses ₹1,500 cr

Fintech major BharatPe turned EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation) positive in October, clocking annualised revenue of ₹1,500 crore, a 31% increase from the year-ago period. The Gurugram-headquartered company said in a statement that it significantly cut down its burn, which was averaging at ₹60 crore a month in FY23, to attain a positive EBITDA. On the back of significant growth in its lending and payments business, the unicorn startup has experienced consistent improvement in its lending vertical over the past several months.

With the flow of VC money ebbing in startups, the companies are striving to reduce costs and shift to profitability as investors are becoming more picky about their fund allocation and are requiring portfolio companies to become financially responsible.

“October was a great month for us – we achieved significant growth with loans facilitated on our platform. Also, our digital payments verticals grew considerably, boasting a monthly transaction count exceeding 37 crores. We will continue to cater to the needs of our merchant partners as well as customers and our strategic focus will be to ensure sustained profitability across our business lines,” says Nalin Negi, CFO and Interim CEO, BharatPe.

In October, the company facilitated loans exceeding ₹640 crores for its merchants in partnership with its NBFC partners, demonstrating a spike of 36% Y-o-Y. BharatPe has facilitated loans totaling over ₹12,400 crores since its foray into this segment in late 2019. Additionally, it recorded growth across verticals – including its payment products.

The company also saw remarkable growth in the number and amount of transactions done on its soundbox devices. BharatPe, in October, also recorded a monthly TPV of over ₹14,000 crores across its diverse range of payment products.

Talking about the future, Negi says, “In the coming months, we'll focus on scaling our lending, POS, and soundbox businesses. We will also focus on launching new products tailored for our merchant partners while concentrating on the development of our consumer and NBFC businesses.”

BharatPe, 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. The fintech company also received RBI’s in-principle clearance to operate as an online payment aggregator earlier this year.

Underlining the company’s vision, the CFO says, “Moving forward, we continue to stay committed to build a sustainable business with growth across business lines. We will continue to focus on driving financial inclusion across Bharat, empowering more offline merchant businesses. Our goal is to establish BharatPe as one of the largest merchant-first fintech companies in the country.”