Jobs portal Apna sees revenue rise but posts net loss in FY21

Tiger Global Management-backed jobs portal Apna, which recently turned unicorn, jumped more than three-fold in its 2020-2021 (FY21) revenue, the company’s filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) show. 

The blue-collared workers’ hiring platform’s revenue rose to Rs 17.16 crore in the year ended March 2021 from Rs 5.35 crore a year earlier. However, the company reported a net loss of Rs 28.27 crore against a profit of Rs 30.66 lakh in the previous year, primarily due to a near ten-fold jump in its total expenses. The company’s expenses for the period jumped to Rs 45.40 crore from Rs 4.92 crore a year earlier. 

During the period, the company that claims to have over 16 million users, saw its employment benefit expenses surge to Rs 25.91 crore from Rs 2.22 crore in 2019-2020 (FY20).

Apna had joined the unicorn club in September, becoming one of the fastest Indian startups to achieve the status, joining the likes of Ola Electric; InMobi’s Glance; business-to-business marketplace Udaan; and Paytm Mall after raising $100 million (Rs 734.7 crore) as a part of its Series C round.  

The round was led by existing investor Tiger Global Management which led to a near two-fold increase in the company’s valuation at $1.1 billion from $570 million earlier in June, when the company had raised $70 million in a Series B funding round at a valuation of $570 million led by New York based venture capital giants Insight Partners and Tiger Global which also saw participation from existing investors were Sequoia Capital India, Lightspeed India, Greenoaks Capital, and Rocketship VC. 

The company, operated by Apnatime Tech Pvt Ltd, was set up in 2019 by Nimrit Parikh. The company says its platform helps blue and grey-collar workers access professional networking and skilling opportunities. 

The startup says it partners with companies including Zomato, Urban Company, and Kirloskar. Currently, the startup has a presence in seven regions including Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Jaipur, and Ranchi. 

In March, the company had raised $12.5 million (around Rs 92 crore) in a fresh funding round which was led by existing investors like Sequoia Capital India and Greenoaks Capital, along with participation from Lightspeed India and Rocketship.vc. In September last year, the company had raised $8 million (around Rs 58 crore) in a Series A exercise led by Lightspeed India and Sequoia Capital India.