General Atlantic-backed fintech giant PhonePe’s net loss crossed the INR 2,500 Cr mark in the financial year ended March 31, 2023. The Bengaluru-based decacorn’s consolidated net loss rose 39% to INR 2,795.3 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 2,013.7 Cr in the previous fiscal year due to a sharp increase in its ESOP expenses.

PhonePe’s operating revenue surged an impressive 77% to INR 2,913.7 Cr during the year under review from INR 1,646.2 Cr in FY22. In comparison, the operating revenue of the startup’s archrival, Paytm, zoomed 61% to INR 7,990.3 Cr in FY23.

PhonePe primarily earns revenue through its payments and allied services. It earned INR 2,707.1 Cr from this revenue stream during the year under review as compared to INR 1,6301.4 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Founded in December 2015 by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari, and Burzin Engineer, PhonePe offers financial services to users. It offers digital payments service, mutual funds and insurance products.

Earlier this year, PhonePe attributed the increase in its revenue in FY23 to growth in money transfers, mobile recharges and bill payments.

The Walmart-owned company also said that the growth in revenue was driven by the launch and scale-up of new products and businesses such as smart speakers, rent payments, and insurance distribution. PhonePe said its smart speaker deployment stood at 4.1 Mn as of  August 31, 2023. 

Meanwhile, its market share in the total payments value (TPV) for UPI stood at 50.54% in the month of March 2023. PhonePe competes against the likes of Paytm, Google Pay, and CRED in the UPI transactions category.

Including other income, PhonePe’s consolidated total income grew over 80% to INR 3,084.6 Cr in FY23 from INR 1,692.7 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Where Did PhonePe Spend?

The digital payments giant’s total expenses shot up 59% to INR 5,886.3 Cr in FY23 from INR 3,705.6 Cr in FY22.

Employee Benefit Expenses Zoom: Employee costs accounted for the lion’s share of the total expenses of PhonePe. The startup spent INR 3,096 Cr on employees in FY23, an increase of 78% from INR 1,741 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Within this, ESOP expenses increased 73% to INR 2,057 Cr from INR 1,185.8 Cr in FY22.

Advertising Expenses Decline: The startup’s advertising cost dropped 23% to INR 671.3 Cr in FY23 from INR 866.2 Cr in the previous fiscal year.  

IT Costs Rise: Being a fintech company, PhonePe has to spend on IT infrastructure. In FY23, its IT expenses rose 54% to INR 216.3 Cr from INR 139.8 Cr a year ago. 

After raising nearly $1 Bn in 2023, PhonePe has been on an expansion spree, launching multiple new offerings, including separate apps for ecommerce (Pincode) and investment tech (Share.Market) and also its own apps store, Indus Appstore.

Earlier today, the startup also rolled out a new feature on the platform that will allow its users to manage their credit cards and pay bills and loans.