Bengaluru: E-commerce startup Meesho on Wednesday reported higher revenue and narrower losses in FY24 as it benefited from an increase in the number of annual users transacting and an increase in order frequency from existing customers.

In FY24, the company reported operating income of ₹7,615 crore, up 33% from a year earlier. Its adjusted losses fell 97% to ₹53 million euros, excluding employee share-based compensation expenses, Meesho said in a statement.

The company attributed the gains to improved efficiencies in several areas, such as logistics, as well as leveraging generative AI and machine learning for better discovery and an improved in-app experience.

Meesho recorded 145 million annual unique users transacting in FY24, accounting for about 10% of India’s purchases through its platform, it claimed. “Consumers don’t just buy multiple items in the same category, they also turn to Meesho for a variety of daily needs. As a result, home & kitchen, beauty & personal care and baby essentials emerged as the fastest growing categories,” the company said, adding that it crossed the 500 million total install mark in the last financial year.

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The Bengaluru-based startup has also seen a healthy increase in order frequency per user, which includes the influx of new e-commerce users from underserved markets in India. Over the past year, Meesho has implemented AI models to analyze category preferences, demographics and time spent on the platform that have contributed to better user engagement.

It also optimized logistics costs through Valmo, its logistics-focused platform launched in February. Since then, Valmo has expanded its network to include smaller and regional logistics partners, which has significantly reduced transport costs. This has led to some loss of market share for major players like Delhivery, which previously served customers like Meesho.

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In February, Meesho included nearly 3,000 regional micro-entrepreneurs in its network, who make nearly a million deliveries every day. It also reduced its costs by 5% and planned to continue by 5-10% in the medium to long term.

“We have significantly reduced shipping expenses and improved delivery efficiency, allowing us to pass the savings on to our users,” Meesho said in Wednesday’s statement. These internal processes contributed to a reduction in return-to-origin (RTO) rates and reduced costs associated with cash-on-delivery (CoD) orders.

In March, Meesho initiated its fourth and largest employee buy-back program (Esop), worth ₹$200 million or $25 million, which enabled wealth creation opportunities for approximately 1,700 current and former employees. It became India’s first horizontal e-commerce company to turn profitable in July 2023. While it did not disclose its July-September profit, it said it has remained profitable and cash-flow positive since then.

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Founded in 2015 by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, the online shopping platform, backed by Softbank, WestBridge Capital and Fidelity Investments, provides small businesses and individual entrepreneurs with access to millions of customers, pan-India logistics, payment services and customers. support capabilities.