VerSe Innovation, the parent company of popular content aggregator platform DailyHunt and short video platform Josh, revealed a significant improvement in its financial performance for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023. The Bengaluru-based unicorn managed to narrow its net loss by over 25%, reporting a net loss of INR 1,909.7 Crores in FY23, compared to INR 2,563.3 Crores in the previous fiscal year.
Founded in 2007 by Virendra Gupta, with Umang Bedi joining later as a co-founder, VerSe Innovation primarily earns revenue through advertising on its platforms, with additional income generated from subscriptions for services rendered. The startup’s operating revenue witnessed a remarkable 51% surge, reaching INR 1,456.5 Crores in FY23 from INR 964.7 Crores in the previous fiscal year.
Including other income, total revenue for the year under review experienced a substantial 57% increase, totaling INR 1,808.5 Crores compared to INR 1,150.9 Crores in FY22.
VerSe Innovation’s total expenditure saw a marginal rise to INR 3,716 Crores in FY23 from INR 3,714 Crores in the previous fiscal year. Notably, the startup’s cost of services, constituting 71% of total expenditure, amounted to INR 2,699 Crores in FY23, reflecting a slight increase from INR 2,693.4 Crores in the previous year. This category included expenditures related to production, transportation, exploration and production activities, as well as advertising.
Employee benefit expenses rose by 11%, reaching INR 811.4 Crores in FY23 from INR 731 Crores in the previous year. It is worth noting that the startup laid off approximately 150 employees during the same period.
On a unit economics level, VerSe Innovation spent INR 2.55 to earn every rupee from operations in FY23.
Having initially operated as a B2B company providing SMS alerts to telcos, VerSe Innovation pivoted to the B2C model, rebranding Newshunt as Dailyhunt in 2015. The platform has since garnered over 350 million users, with about 98% of the startup’s revenue coming from DailyHunt until 2022.
In 2022, VerSe Innovation secured one of the most substantial funding rounds, raising $805 million in its Series J round at a valuation of $5 billion. The funding came from investors such as Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, Luxor Capital, and Sumeru Ventures, among others, bringing the startup’s total funds raised to around $1.7 billion across various rounds.
