Exotel, a cloud telephony platform, disclosed its fiscal year ending March 2023 financial results, delayed from their original September 30, 2023 deadline. Revenue from operations rose 32.1% to Rs 420 crore from Rs 318 crore in FY22, sourced from Registrar of Companies data. The 13-year-old company primarily offers voice and SMS contact center services over the cloud, with internet-enabled communication as its main revenue source. Other revenue streams include software licenses, chatbot services, and product sales like APIs and mobile applications.
Domestic operations accounted for 81% of Exotel’s revenue, with the remainder from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Expenditures saw significant increases: employee benefits rose 43.3% to Rs 245 crore, and overall costs, including telephone-postage and marketing expenses, increased 51.8% to Rs 554 crore. These escalations contributed to Exotel’s losses jumping to Rs 109 crore in FY23 from Rs 43 crore in FY22, with negative ROCE and EBITDA margins at -21.9% and -18.3%, respectively. The company’s performance has fallen short of expectations since 2020, despite previous profitability.
Exotel, backed by over $100 million in funding, including a $40 million investment from Steadview Capital in 2022, faces competitive pressures and shrinking margins in the cloud telephony sector. A91 Partners holds the largest external stake at 25.7%, followed by Blume Ventures.
