Tiger Global-backed Quikr's FY17 revenue grows 55% to Rs 638 million

Quikr, which shifted base from Mumbai to Bengaluru, had reported a revenue of Rs 412.4 mn

Quikr reported a 55 per cent increase in its revenue to Rs 637.9 million in the year that ended March 2017, as it moved away from being a horizontal player in the online classifieds space to focus more on vertical-specific listings such as real estate, jobs, and cars.

The Tiger Global-backed Quikr had acquired six startups — Salosa, Zapluk, StayGlad, Stepni, Hireee and Grabhouse — in fiscal 2017 and it is not clear the the growth in revenue was organic or came in through the acquisitions of small firms.

Quikr, which shifted base from Mumbai to Bengaluru, had reported a revenue of Rs 412.4 million, while losses clocked in at Rs 5.4 billion in FY16. The company however did not reveal its profit and loss figures for the FY17 reporting period, according to filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) sourced through Tofler.

“Our revenue trajectory has validated that the verticalization strategy is working well and we are seeing strong acceleration in business fundamentals including revenue. Our growth is well distributed across our verticals and their respective revenue models. We are seeing strong growth in both transaction models and lighter stack models,” said a Quikr spokesperson.

Naspers-backed Olx, the chief rival of Quikr, reported a revenue of Rs 925 million and a profit of Rs 80 odd million in FY17. Majority of Olx India’s revenue however is driven by the service the India unit renders to its global business, with Rs 750 million being reported as revenue from business channels outside of the country.

Quikr’s filings to the RoC also revealed that the net worth of the company stood at Rs 5.44 billion as off the end of March 2017. 

Between July 2016 and November 2016, Quikr made five acquisitions, including Hiree, Stayglad and Grabhouse. 

In June 2017 , Martin Scheepbouwer, chief executive of the classifieds business for Naspers had said that OLX “out executed” its rival Quikr in India. He however added that monetising the business in the country was still a few years away.

“India is a key early market for OLX, in which we had to deploy significant capital in the past years. This investment has been put to very good use by out-executing our main competitor, Quikr,” Scheepbouwer had said.

Pranay Chulet, who founded Quikr, which is modelled on Craigslist is part of India's list of around a dozen Unicorns with a valuation of over $1.5 billion, has been looking for acquisitions to strengthen its verticalisation strategy. Quikr has raised $346 million in six rounds from investors such as Tiger Global, Warburg Pincus, and Norwest Venture Partners.

India’s online classifieds market which stood at Rs 29 billion in 2015 that is expected to grow to Rs 77-79 billion by 2020, according to a joint study by KPMG and Google in September 2016. The market is expected to be dominated by vertical focused digital classifieds firms, with only 30 per cent controlled by horizontal players, it said.