Sequoia-backed ShopUp doubles revenue in FY 2022

Photo credit: ShopUp

Bangladesh-based ShopUp, backed by Sequoia Capital India (now known as Peak XV Partners) and Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, more than doubled its revenue to US$83.2 million year over year for the financial year ended June 2022, according to its financial report obtained from VentureCap Insights.

About US$75.2 million of the amount came from logistics and deliveries. Meanwhile, roughly US$7.7 million came from facilitation fees, or the amount charged for services such as quality checks, quantity accuracy, and logistics arrangements.

ShopUp is a B2B platform that enables small retailers to purchase stock and avail last-mile logistics services. It mainly targets mom and pop stores, known locally as Mudir Dokan, which the company previously said contribute to 98% of total consumption in Bangladesh.

While ShopUp kept mum about its FY 2023 numbers, CFO Vashistha Maheshwari told Tech in Asia in an email that the company has continued to see growth this year on the back of optimizations in monetization.

“This monetization percentage has grown 10x over the last one year courtesy of high growth in some of our business units like logistics and consumer packed goods,” he added.

Meanwhile, the company’s total losses for FY 2022 surged almost 85% to US$42.7 million compared to FY 2021.

Maheshwari shared that these losses “will be wiped out” amid ShopUp’s higher monetization objectives. The company also has also seen “significant results” from its efforts to reduce burn in FY 2023, he noted.

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Nonetheless, expenses in FY 2022 grew more than 2x to US$85.9 million over the same period. The main contributor to this is the US$59.5 million in costs for finished goods consumed, which grew from US$30.3 million in the previous financial year.

According to the company’s financial report, the costs of finished goods – and those still work-in-progress – include production overhead and direct labor. The total costs also include gains or losses from foreign currency purchases of inventories.

For FY 2022, ShopUp saw a large jump in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period to US$87.1 million from US$3.1 million in FY 2021. This is primarily attributed to the company’s US$153.9 million in cash generated from financing activities.

ShopUp has allocated part of the funds for organic growth and potential M&A opportunities – which will be focused on strengthening its position within its local market, Maheshwari shared. The executive also said ShopUp is currently well-capitalized and positioned for growth, but he didn’t disclose specific numbers.

For 2023, Maheshwari said the growth targets are centered around two key objectives: increasing monetization and hitting EBITDA breakeven.