Phi Commerce: Omnichannel Payment Solutions Provider Achieves Impressive Growth

Phi Commerce, a leader in SaaS-based omnichannel payment solutions, experienced over two-fold growth year-on-year in its operational scale for the fiscal year ending March 2024. Despite this growth, the company’s losses tripled during the same period, attributed to its expansion initiatives.

According to consolidated financial statements submitted to the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Phi Commerce’s operational revenue surged to Rs 81.2 crore in FY24 from Rs 34.7 crore in FY23.

Phi Commerce: A Comprehensive Digital Payment Provider

Phi Commerce excels in offering a unified omnichannel payments platform tailored for businesses, banks, and networks. Their signature product, PayPhi, streamlines intricate digital transactions across various interfaces including online, in-store, on-the-go, and home delivery services.

Revenue Sources for Phi Commerce

For Phi Commerce, commissions derived from Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) settlements with merchants constituted 90% of its operational revenue, amounting to Rs 72.3 crore in FY24. The company also generated revenue from technology infrastructure and value-added services related to payment aggregation.

Additionally, Phi Commerce earned Rs 3.4 crore in interest from fixed deposits and non-current investments, pushing its total revenue to Rs 84.5 crore.

Financial Overview and Expense Analysis

In FY24, Phi Commerce’s total expenses surged by 137% to Rs 116.6 crore from Rs 49.2 crore in FY23, primarily driven by increasing operational costs. Payment processing charges emerged as the major cost component, responsible for 60% of total expenses, escalating 2.6x to Rs 70.5 crore in FY24. Employee benefit expenses also rose significantly by 109% year-on-year, reaching Rs 27.8 crore.

Additional costs, such as legal and platform support fees, share-based remuneration to consultants, and various overheads, further contributed to the 137% rise in total expenses. Consequently, Phi Commerce faced a net loss that widened by 207%, reaching Rs 28.9 crore in FY24 compared to Rs 9.4 crore in FY23.

Unit-Level Spending and Financial Metrics

On a unit level, the company incurred expenses of Rs 1.44 to earn each rupee in FY24. At the conclusion of FY24, Phi Commerce recorded a negative Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) of -40.18% along with an EBITDA margin of -35.11%. Current assets amounted to Rs 107.7 crore, which included Rs 64.6 crore in liquid cash and bank balances as of March 2024.

Funding Activities

Phi Commerce has successfully raised a total of $14 million in funding, which includes a $10 million Series A investment led by BEENEXT, with participation from Opus Ventures. As per data from various intelligence platforms, Opus Ventures is noted as the largest external stakeholder, followed closely by BEENEXT.