Prosus-backed homegrown e-commerce player Meesho, which competes with Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart, narrowed its adjusted losses by nearly 97% in the fiscal year ended March 2024, thanks to improving efficiency, including the launch of its domestic logistics arm Valmo and higher revenues.

The company reported a loss of Rs 53 crore after tax (excluding cost of employee stock options) in FY24, compared to Rs 1,569 crore in the previous year, Meesho said in a press release.

The startup attributed the improved costs and efficiency to several areas such as logistics, customer support and better app experience.

“We have significantly reduced shipping costs and improved delivery efficiencies, allowing us to pass the savings on to our users,” Meesho said. “The launch of Valmo further expanded the logistics ecosystem by empowering smaller regional logistics partners, which helped to significantly optimize shipping costs over time.

Further, Meesho said an increase in the number of users along with improvement in order frequency helped it improve its net sales by around 33% to Rs 7,615 crore during the FY 24. The company ended FY 23 with a turnover of around Rs 5,735 crore.

“This was mainly driven by an increase in our users transacting annually as well as higher order frequency from our existing loyal customers,” Meesho said.

The e-commerce player delivered 843 million orders during the year, around 36% more than the previous year.

“What is particularly interesting is the shift in consumer behavior: consumers are not only purchasing multiple items in the same category, but are also turning to Meesho for a diverse range of their daily needs,” said Meesho . Beyond fashion, Meesho has seen categories such as home & kitchen, beauty & personal care, and baby essentials experiencing rapid growth.

Meesho, founded by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal in 2015, allows small businesses and entrepreneurs to sell their products directly to customers on the platform without any fees.

The company is reportedly in talks to raise a seed round of $500 million to $600 million at a valuation of $3.5 billion to $3.9 billion, lower than its last round. In September 2021, Meesho raised $570 million at a valuation of $4.9 billion from investors such as B Capital Group, Prosus Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Facebook, Footpath Ventures, Fidelity, among others.

In April 2021, Meesho achieved unicorn status after raising $300 million led by SoftBank. The fundraising then valued it at $2.1 billion, a tripling from its previous funding round of $125 million in 2019, when it was valued at $700 million.

In October 2023, venture capital firm Venture Highway sold its share of its stake in the unicorn to local private equity firm WestBridge Capital with returns exceeding 50x.