HealthKart grows FY18 operating revenues 56%, monthly burn rate at Rs 18 crore

HealthKart, the omnichannel healthcare products platform owned by Gurugram-based Bright Lifecare Pvt Ltd, grew its operating revenues by 56% and nearly halved losses in the financial year ended March 31, 2018. 

The company’s operating revenues in the financial year 2017-2018 stood at Rs 188.52 crore compared to Rs 120.58 crore in the previous year, showed its consolidated financials filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Net losses stood at Rs 22.40 crore against Rs 41.91 crore in the previous year.

The seven-year old company derives its operational revenues primarily from the sale of healthcare products and services, with the former accounting for 93% of total revenues. 

Gross expenditure during the year grew 29.10% to Rs 214.84 crore, up from Rs 166.41 crore in the previous year. Among the major expenditure head, the cost of materials consumed stood at Rs 83.31 crore, employee benefit expenses were at Rs 37.41 crore and other expenses stood at Rs 83.05 crore. The increase in other expenses was primarily attributed to a two-fold rise in advertising and promotional expenses at Rs 43.94 crore, up from Rs 21.97 crore in the previous year.

The company burned through Rs 18 crore every month to earn revenues of Rs 16 crore each month. In other words, the company lost Rs 0.1 for every rupee earned in operational revenues. 

Queries emailed to Sameer Maheshwari, HealthKart co-founder and chief executive, did not elicit a response at the time of publishing this report.

Founded in 2011 by Prashant Tandon and Maheshwari, HealthKart sells products across a broad range of categories such as fitness and nutrition supplements, sports nutrition, health devices, personal care, eye-care, parenting and pet care. Tandon is an MBA from Stanford University while Maheshwari has studied at Harvard Business School.

HealthKart sells products under its own private label and also aggregates 200 external brands and vendors on its platform. Starting out as an online-first venture, the company has over time aggressively ventured offline. It currently operates 93 stores across 36 cities and plans to set up more, according to information available on its website.

It also operates two mobile apps — HealthKart, a consumer-facing shopping app, and HealthKart Consult, which connects users with qualified nutritionists and fitness trainers who can offer personalised diet plans along with training routines to achieve fitness goals.

Tandon and Maheshwari are also co-founders of online pharmacy 1 mg, which was hived off as a separate entity in 2015. 1mg, which was earlier called HealthKart Plus, was its online drug store vertical.

In October, VCCircle reported that the company is raising $10 million (Rs 73 crore then) in a fresh funding round from new and existing investors. The company’s other investors include Intel Capital, Edelweiss, Omidyar Network, Kae Capital and individual investors such as Marico founder Harsh Mariwala and MakeMyTrip founder and chief executive Deep Kalra.