Temasek-backed logistics startup Shiprocket is expecting to return to profit in FY25, after a slew of acquisitions in the last two years had pushed its bottomline in the red. However, the company plans to continue with its acquisition spree in the new fiscal to add new services on its platform that serves 100,000 active merchants every quarter.
In an interaction with Fe, its chief executive officer Saahil Goel noted that Shiprocket’s aim is to acquire companies that offer certain products and services that sellers require for end-to-end logistics. For example, it acquired Rocketbox in 2022 to offer B2B bulk shipment, and Glaucus, a warehousing company that same year, to offer warehousing services to mid-to-large-sized sellers.
Since 2022, Shiprocket has bought five companies, including Pickrr, which is an e-commerce Saas platform for D2C brands and SME sellers, for $200 million. Pickrr’s platform provides insights to help sellers make decisions about their logistic operations.
While the acquisitions will continue in FY25, the company hopes to return to profitability this fiscal. “So we started a few pilots and realised that some of them worked, while some didn’t. The ones that have worked have worked exceptionally well, so they are now starting to become profitable,” Goel said.
Shiprocket primarily serves SME sellers, whose average sales are somewhere between Rs 10-20 lakh a year. In FY23, the company posted an operating revenue of Rs 1,089 crore, marking an 80% jump from the Rs 611.1 crore it had recorded in the preceding fiscal year. However, its losses increased to Rs 341 crore in FY23 from Rs 93.15 a year ago. In FY21, the company had made Rs 12.5 crore in overall profit.
Recently, several media reports suggested that one of its investors, Zomato, is looking to buy it out at a $2 billion valuation, a claim that was later denied by both the companies. Goel also emphasised that the company is not open to be acquired at the moment and will look to debut in the public markets in a few years.
In the new fiscal year, Shiprocket plans to double down on its cross-border shipping, Goel said, where the government is also enabling businesses to boost their e-commerce exports. “We’ve made a system where we are able to ship goods from India to the US in about 8-9 days for about $7-8,” he added.