Bengaluru: Limping back to profitability is clearly proving to be excruciating for Instamojo since the Reserve Bank of India turned back its application for payment aggregator (PA) licence. But July has shown the green shoots of recovery and the company is now hoping to emerge out of the red by the third quarter of the current financial year. It is also rebuilding its manpower and forging new ties to work to this end.
“Revenue dipped in the third quarter (Q3) last financial year (FY24) by about 70 per cent, as an impact of RBI returning the company’s application for a Payment Aggregator (PA) License. We aim to go back to where we were by the end of this quarter of FY25, or worst case scenario, by Q3. We are also aiming to be EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) profitable again by Q3”, the direct-to-consumer (D2C) technology platform’s founder and CEO, Sampad Swain told DH.
The situation had not improved even as late as just the last quarter ended June 30, when it continued to report a revenue fall of 50 per cent year-on-year (YoY). However, in July, the company's revenue topped that of Q1 this year by 20-25 per cent.
Swain added that last year the company had projected that by March 2025 it would clock a double-digit growth and aim to stay profitable month-on-month. The target is to reach Rs 100 crore revenue with a profit after tax of Rs 50 crore by FY26.
Partnerships in the works
Swain said that Instamojo has struck up four new partnerships this fiscal, without giving up much details. One of them forged in June is with a website builder. But a bigger tie-up with a global major is expected to be signed this month, he added, which will help small and medium scale businesses in marketing.
While it had made its intention to keep away from reapplying for the PA License, Instamojo is instead partnering with other PAs such as RazorPay, Cashfree, PhonePay, CCAvenue, and is currently in talks with PayU. This, even though the company has the option to reapply on September 27, the one-year cool-off period from its last application ends.
Business verticals
Presently, Instamojo gets its revenue from two streams. Its original business of digital cash transactions contributes 75 per cent of its revenue, while its relatively new branching into service as a software (SaaS) brings in 25 per cent. In the next three years, it hopes to flip this structure to SaaS contributing 60 per cent and its legacy business 40 per cent.
Busy getting its house back in order, Instamojo is not looking to raise funds or do acquisitions. The focus is on clearing debts. “One of the aims is to take Instamojo to be in at least one more market, beyond India, by FY26,” Swain said. FY25, on the other hand, is only about moving from shock to steady state.