Khatabook’s valuation touches $600 million with zero revenue to show

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Khatabook’s valuation touches $600 million with zero revenue to show
Canva/Bi India
  • Khatabook has raised $100 million in its Series C round led by Tribe Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures (MSV).
  • Overall, the company’s merchants network manage more than 264 million users across India.
  • The company will use this funding to introduce new offerings for the merchants and hire across verticals.
  • The company had reported no revenue with a loss of ₹126 crore in the financial year 2020, as per Tofler.
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Bookkeeping app Khatabook’s valuation has touched $600 million even though the company is still in a pre-revenue phase. The company had reported no revenue with a loss of ₹126 crore in the financial year (FY) 2020, as per data platform Tofler.

Khatabook’s financial statement for FY21 is not yet publicly available.

A major reason for the company’s skyhigh valuation seems to be its penetration in the Indian small and medium businesses (SMB) market, which does not have much internet penetration. The company claims to have over 10 million monthly active merchants registered on the platform. Overall, its merchants manage more than 264 million customers. About 95% of the Indian districts are represented on its app, as per the company.

The company, on Tuesday, said that it has raised $100 million in its Series C round led by Tribe Capital and Moore Strategic Ventures (MSV).

Alkeon Capital also participated in the round, along with existing investors B Capital Group, Sequoia Capital, Tencent, RTP Ventures, Unilever Ventures, and Better Capital. Former and current partners of Andreessen Horowitz, Balaji Srinivasan and Sriram Krishnan, also infused an undisclosed amount in the Bengaluru-based startup.

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The latest round would allow Khatabook to strengthen its talent base and hire across multiple roles like engineering, product, design, analytics and data science functions. The company currently employs 200 individuals.

A part of the funding will also be used to launch several new financial services for its merchant partners, the company said in a press note.

Khatabook further added that it would also buy back $10 million worth of employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) shares to reward current and former employees of the company. Eligible employees will be able to sell as much as 30% of their vested options, the company said.

It has also expanded its ESOP pool to $50 million.

Khatabook was originally founded by Vaibhav Kalpe in 2016. The company was later acquired by Kyte Technology — founded by Ravish Naresh, Jaideep Poonia, Dhanesh Kumar and Ashish Sonone — in 2019, with Kalpe joining the company.

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The company enables small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to record and track business transactions. Khatabook helps small shopkeepers and kirana store owners in India manage their account by keeping track of the money owed to them through digital ledger. It also offers several features to make collection of money earlier through the use of technology.

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