Tiger Global-backed Urban Company sees losses widen to Rs 514.14 crore in FY22

Representative image (Twitter/Urban Company)

Urban Company, an app-based home services marketplace, reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 514.14 crore in FY22 that widened from the loss reported during the same period last year, on the back of rise in expenses and spill-over effects of the pandemic.

The company had reported a net loss of Rs 249.28 crore during the April-March of FY21.

“While most of our home repair and maintenance services were allowed to operate, beauty services had to be shut down in several parts of the country. Consequently, business activity was adversely impacted in Q1 FY22,” the company said in the report.

Urban Company’s revenue during FY22 was up more than 75 percent to Rs 509.17 crore as against a total revenue of Rs 289.78 crore.

However, the Gurugram-based company's total expenses during the year under review rose more than 89 percent to Rs 1,023 crore, as against total expense of Rs 539 crore in FY21, the company’s MCA filings showed.

"We double dived on services such as cleaning and disinfection which were seeing consumer traction. As a result, we were able to quickly bounce back from the impact of the second wave in a quarter and demonstrate strong resilience, " The company's report said.

UC's standalone employee benefit expense has gone up by 91 percent year-on-year to Rs 389 crore, as against the expense clocked at Rs 204 crore in FY21.

Urban Company also incurred Rs 65.74 crore as contractual employee expenses that ballooned over 3X during FY22.

The company's balance sheet revealed that as of March 31, 2022, the company has a cash balance of Rs 880 lakh, and a bank balance of Rs 64,091 lakh.

Founded in 2014 by Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra, Urban Company provides on-demand home services like beauty, spa, cleaning, plumbing, carpentry, appliance repair, painting and others.

Urban Company has a presence in 55 cities across India, UAE, Australia, Singapore and The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Since inception, the platform has delivered 33 million bookings with a cumulative net transaction value of Rs 401.58 crore, the company said.

Urban Company has so far raised $445 million and was valued close to $1 billion in August 2019, when it had raised $75 million in a round led by Tiger Global.

The company had raised Series F funding of $255 million in June 2021. The Series F round was led by Prosus Ventures, Dragoneer and Wellington Management, with participation from Vy Capital, Tiger Global and Steadview, and at that time, it was valued at $2.1 billion.