Fashion etailer Yepme has a reason to smile; two, in fact. The Gurgaon-based start-up recently raised funds and is looking to get more. Also, the etailer managed to bring its heavy losses under control.
Rs. 4.5 crore in Yepme’s kitty
Indian ecommerce start-ups had their hopes pinned on Flipkart’s latest funding round. And the funding gate did open as anticipated.
As per the Registrar of Companies filing, Yepme raised Rs. 4.5 crore in it last funding round. The participating partners were Rainbow Digital Services and ILearnFinance Academy and method of fundraising was issuing optionally convertible debentures. The company’s CEO Vivek Gaur also disclosed that they are planning to raise Rs. 9.5 crore more through similar means.
The fashion etailer was in dire need of funds as cash reserves were gradually dwindling. In February 2017, there were reports about Yepme firing nearly 80-90% of its workforce due to lack of funds. Therefore, the money couldn’t have come at a better time.
“This bridge round will help the company tide over the current liquidity crunch,” a company official disclosed.
FY 2016-17 losses come down by 74%
Yepme losses for the fiscal year 2015-16 had increased by a whopping 73%. Heavy ad and promotional spend had contributed to this loss. But having learnt its lesson from last year’s shocker, the fashion etailer has succeeded in reducing its losses by 74% for the fiscal year 2016-17.
The etailer’s financial loss went down from Rs 184 crore in FY16 to Rs 48 crore in FY17. The company’s revenue too increased by 15% and touched Rs 120 crore. From this Rs. 120 crore revenue, Rs. 30 crore was contributed by offline stores.
Speaking about their revenue from physical stores and plan to increase store count, Yepme’s co-founder Sandeep Sharma said, “However, the plan to increase the number of offline stores took a beat last year on the back of demonetisation, which was announced on November 8, 2016. As consumers have started to return to the stores now, we expect sales to pick up from this month onwards. We plan to open three more stores in April, and another five stores May.”
Is Yepme finally on the right track to profitability?
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