Urban Company's revenue rises 41% as InstaHelp spending deepens its loss

Urban Company’s revenue from operations rose 41% from a year earlier to ₹537 crore in the July-September quarter, as the number of jobs booked through the home services app more than doubled to 15.1 million. Its net loss widened to ₹182.48 crore, weighed down by heavy spending on InstaHelp, its fast-dispatch domestic help service.

Net transaction value, the total paid by customers on the platform, rose 39% to ₹1,432 crore. Nearly 10 million people used the service over the past year.

The cost of InstaHelp

The company put ₹174 crore into InstaHelp during the quarter, leaving an adjusted operating loss of ₹144 crore. Without it, adjusted EBITDA was a profit of ₹30 crore.

InstaHelp completed 6.2 million orders, up 63% from the June quarter, and the loss on each order narrowed to ₹279 from ₹346.

The main Indian consumer services business, leaving out InstaHelp, grew transaction value 26.3% to ₹963 crore. Tier 2 cities grew faster, at about 37%. The international business grew 66% to ₹267 crore, and Native, its smart home products brand, grew 35% to ₹132 crore.

Money and air conditioners

The board approved raising up to ₹2,500 crore, subject to shareholders’ approval. It also gave in-principle approval to study residential air conditioners as a new Native product, short of a decision to launch one.

The company had ₹1,901 crore in cash and treasury investments at the end of September. It expects transaction value to grow 50-55% across the September and December quarters taken together and says it remains on track to break even on adjusted EBITDA by the December quarter of 2027-28.

The shares closed 2.47% higher at ₹158.12 on Friday.