2019 roundup so far: Startups are growing bigger but by widening losses

Sharechat’s losses grew 12 times over to ₹415 crores. The previous year it reported a ₹33.8 crore loss.

The social media app for local languages was the first Indian startup to bag a funding from Twitter. It had got a $100 million funding from Twitter taking its total funding to $224 million.

According to reports, Paytm’s losses went up by 165% to ₹3,959 crores from ₹1,490 crore the previous year. However its e-commerce arm Paytm Mall cut down losses by 35% to ₹1,171 crores in FY19.

Paytm Mall earlier said that it reduced its monthly spends by ₹400 million, and is targeting an pre-tax profit breakeven by 2021-22.

Flipkart Internet, which is Flipkart’s sub division for its e-commerce business, saw its losses widen by 40% to ₹1,624 crore. However, its operating revenues grew by 51% to ₹4,234 crore.

That’s not all, Flipkart’s net loss also expanded by a whopping 86% to ₹3,837 crore.

Amazon India’s e-commerce vertical – Amazon Seller Services saw a dip in its losses which came in lower by 9.5% to ₹5,685 crore. Amazon’s revenues grew by 55% to ₹7,778 crore.

In fact the company set many records in losses this time around. Its total losses in India crossed the ₹7,000 crore mark. Its payment arm – Amazon Pay also posted record losses of ₹1,160.8 crore loss.

The food aggregator unicorn Zomato reported a loss of $294 million for the financial year ending March 2019. However its revenue grew to touch $206 million (₹1459.7 crores).

It has been having a good run so far with its revenue for the first half of FY20 jumping by 225% to $205 million. The food aggregator said that it cut its losses as its monthly burn rate is down to 60% from what it was in March.

Hyperlocal delivery startup Dunzo has registered a loss of ₹168.9 crores in FY19 for a wafer thin revenue of ₹76.59 lakh. Its losses have grown eight times over, whereas its revenue even with a five-fold increase - is minuscule compared to its losses.