Shopclues receives around Rs 400 cr investment as losses widen

Priyanka Sahay & Ayushmann ChawlaMoneycontrol Bureau Gurgaon-based Shopclues has received about Rs 400 crore from its US-based parent Clues Network Inc, in five different tranches, as per latest documents available with the Registrar of Companies. The money has come in between September 2015 and November 2016.The latest tranche of Rs 100 crore has been allotted to the Gurgaon startup on November 14, 2016. The rest of the tranches came in this year in May (Rs 199.46 crore) and April (Rs 33.23 crore). In September last year it received Rs 26.43 crore and Rs 39.64 crore, respectively. In January this year, the e-commerce firm, which competes with larger rivals - Amazon and Flipkart, announced an undisclosed amount of investment from sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd with participation from existing investors Tiger Global Management LLC and Nexus Venture Partners. The company claimed to have achieved a valuation of USD 1.1 billion post that round entering into the much talked about club of unicorns. A part of the amount raised mentioned above is expected to have come from the same fund. Losses widen, expenses increaseThe company has so far not disclosed the results for the financial year 2015-16. However, during the financial year 2014-15, losses of Gurgaon-based online marketplaces Shopclues widened to Rs 100 crore from Rs 38 crore recorded during the year ending March 2014, as per latest documents available. The company’s total expense was about Rs.69.8 crore up to March 2014. It jumped to Rs 180.6 crore in the year ending March 2015. Management Salaries in 2015Sanjay Sethi, CEO and Director of Shopclues earned Rs 43.68 lakh as salary from for the year ending March 2015. In the previous fiscal year, Sethi earned a salary of Rs 31.64 lakh. In the same year, Shopclues Co-founder and Director Radhika Ghai received Rs 44.84 lakh as compensation which increased from Rs 38.07 lakh, earned in the year before. The company’s Chief Technology Officer Mrinal Chatterjee who was a Director up to January 2, 2015 earned Rs 1.04 crore from previous year’s Rs 23 lakh, the company said in its filings.