There’s a story that startup folks revel in telling each other, and very often to the outside world. The story of a mythical, one horned animal called a Unicorn. Take a moment and imagine it — a one horned beast charging ahead. Now, think of Quikr. Do you see it? Unicorn. Quikr. This story is important. The industry slang for a Unicorn is a startup valued at $1 billion or more. In India, a country starved of Unicorns, that’s a big deal. Which is why Quikr is a big deal. That is until you take a closer look at the numbers.
Total Funding
- $346 million
Quikr
Investors
Tiger Global Management
Warburg Pincus
Norwest Venture Partners
Brand Capital (Bennett Coleman & Co)
Competitors
Olx
What has Quikr been upto, the last year?
Quikr has been pivoting. It is no more an online classifieds portal; that’s what it was born to be. But, it has added verticals like real estate, cars and jobs and has been on an acquisition spree. In the last year, Quikr acquired eight startups. In real estate, Realty Exchange, Realty Compass, Commonfloor and Grabhouse. In jobs, Hiree. In services, Stayglad and in automotive, Stepni. It has been a good year, as far as raising dollars is concerned. Quikr raised Rs 129 crore in cash from Bennett Coleman & Co’s Brand Equity Treaties.
Results:
Rs 41 crore: That’s the money Quikr made from operations, as of March 2016. It recorded Rs 53 crore in other income. Of the Rs 53 crore, it made Rs 49 crore in interest income. Here’s a Unicorn which makes more money from financing, compared to its revenue from operations.
Rs 24 crore: Revenue from advertising publicity. This is the amount of money Quikr made from running Google AdSense.
Rs 534 crore: That’s Quikr’s loss as of March 2016. In the previous year, it recorded a loss of Rs 446 crore. For every crore in the pocket, Quikr lost about Rs 13 crore.
Rs 102 crore: Quikr’s employee expense as of March 2016. It has grown more than 3X compared to the previous year.
Rs 400 crore: That’s the money Quikr spent on advertising. Play with this in your head — to make Rs 41 crore, Quikr incurred promotional expense of Rs 400 crore.
Rs 391 crore: That’s the amount of money Quikr has invested in bonds, debentures and mutual funds in the last one year. Needless to say, the play from financing activities seems to be well thought out.
Rs 1,303 crore: This is the accumulated losses of Quikr. According to its auditors, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, that’s 67% erosion of net worth. From the report: However the financial statements of the Company for year ended March 31, 2016 have been prepared based on the going concern assumption as the holding company, Quikr Mauritius Holding Private Limited has indicated their intention to unconditionally financially support the Company for next 12 months period. During the year, financial assistance was provided by Quikr Mauritius Holding Private Limited in the form of equity and securities premium amounting to Rs 963 crore.
