FarEye’s operating income rose 53% YoY to INR 101.17 Cr in FY22, up from INR 65.93 Cr in FY21
The SaaS logistics startup’s total spend more than doubled to INR 285.2 Cr in FY22 compared to INR 138.9 Cr in FY21
In the past nine months, FarEye has conducted two rounds of layoffs and has laid off more than 340 employees worldwide
Microsoft-backed SaaS logistics startup FarEye’s stand-alone loss for the fiscal year 2021-22 (FY22) jumped 161 per cent year-on-year to INR 153.7 Cr from INR 58.7 Cr a year earlier.
The Delhi/NCR-based startup’s operating revenue soared to INR 101.17 Cr in FY22, a 53% year-on-year increase. However, FarEye’s total revenue jumped more than 64% to INR 131.5 from INR 80.13 in FY21.
The enterprise tech startup earns revenue primarily by providing software solutions to companies.
The biggest downfall appears to be total expenses, which more than doubled from INR 138.9 in FY21 to INR 285.2 in FY22. Among them, employee welfare expenses accounted for a large part of the expenses. The startup spent INR 164.1 Cr on staff expenses in FY22, up 85% YoY from INR 88.4 Cr in FY21.
However, it was FarEye’s ‘other charges’ that caused the most pain for the enterprise technology startup as they rose 2.52x YoY to INR 116.5 Cr in FY22.
A breakdown of the data showed that payments related to legal services accounted for INR 59 Cr, while advertising costs rose 157% YoY to INR 8 Cr in FY22.
Notably, FarEye posted a consolidated net loss of INR 232.5 in FY22, a 3-fold increase from INR 79.8 reported in FY21.
Founded in 2013 by Kushal Nahata, Gaurav Srivastava and Gautam Kumar, FarEye provides automation solutions to logistics companies. These enterprise technology products enable logistics companies to schedule work, monitor execution and analyze performance in real time.
To date, the startup has raised a total of $150 million in funding across multiple funding rounds, including a massive $100 million Series E in 2021. As of the end of FY22, FarEye had more than 150 clients in 35 countries and processed more than $100 million in transactions per month. Its product network serves the needs of more than 25,000 drivers and has a comprehensive network of 2 million vehicles.
Some of its largest clients include brands such as Domino’s Pizza, Gordon’s, Central Group and Zalora.
The tragic loss comes as FarEye is at the center of a storm amid multiple layoffs. Last June, the startup laid off nearly 250 employees across its India, North American and European offices.
Eight months later, in February 2023, the SaaS startup laid off 90 employees in a second round of layoffs affecting technology, product, HRBP, and sales verticals.
These numbers relate to FY22 and do not include numbers for the current fiscal year, which has encountered many challenges including a funding winter, deteriorating market conditions, and tightening enterprise-level SaaS spending.
In the meantime, it remains to be seen whether FarEye can recover from the fallout, but for now, the company’s mounting losses don’t paint a rosy picture.
Information source: compiled by 0x information from INC42.The copyright belongs to the author Chetan Thathoo, and shall not be reproduced without permission