Camden Town Technologies Pvt Ltd, the parent company of the defunct lender ZestMoney has reported the operating revenues of Rs. 249.82 crore in FY23, an increase of 72.3%. The rise in revenue is driven by a surge in merchant commissions and technology usage charges, according to a report by Yourstory. “In FY23, the fintech company generated Rs 26 crore in merchant commissions, reflecting a 2.8X increase compared to Rs 8 crore earned in FY22,” the report stated.
“The Company has entered into a one-time software licensing arrangement with a lender, providing co-ownership of its technology platform (intellectual property) for a licensing fee of Rs. 21,360 lakhs. The fee has been adjusted against a full and final settlement of the loan outstanding of Rs.14,800 lakhs and the balance amount has been received by the Company,” it said in the financial earnings report, as quoted by Yourstory.
Income from technology usage charges grew 3.3X to Rs. 43 crore in FY23. While, a surge in expenses has also been observed as it reached Rs. 662.27 crore in FY23 against Rs. 543.85 crore in FY22. Increasing by 2.7X, bad debts of the company reached Rs. 438 crore in FY23. An allocation of Rs. 71.55 crore has been made for salaries, bonuses, and allowances in FY23, contributing to a total expenditure of Rs 93.39 crore on employee benefits.
Notably, ZestMoney had on December 5, announced its decision to shut down its operations and let go of its remaining 150 employees. However, the company also received an acquisition offer from Ashwin Bhambri, founder of micro-lending startup KreditPE over LinkedIn.
In an open letter Bhambri said, “Dear Lizzie, Priya, Ashish all Employees and Investors at Zestmoney: We have utmost RESPECT for what you built and the IMPACT you created at ZESTMoney. We heard the news and feel ZestMoney is too good to shut down. We (at KreditPE) love the product and would like to propose acquiring ZestMoney and run-it. We firmly believe we’ll make it 100 times more successful than PhonePe.”