PC: Institute of Entrepreneurship Development
AquaExchange, the full-stack aquaculture tech firm based out of Bhimavaram, has announced operating revenue growth by 36% year on year at ₹104.88 crore for the fiscal year ending March 2024 from ₹76.73 crore for the fiscal year ending FY23. Growth is impressive, though not quite at par with the nearly 100% growth curve the startup had demonstrated in the previous fiscal year. Nevertheless, the company saw revenue growth while its financial landscape was quite challenging with more than rising expenses along with significantly higher losses.
Overview Financial Performance
Combined revenue, incorporating other income, stands at ₹105.10 crore in FY24 compared to ₹76.73 crore in the previous fiscal year. Other income added ₹33 lakh to the number, reflecting AquaExchange’s ability to diversify its top line. The growth rate, though a 37.6% increase, reveals the company is walking a more complex market this fiscal year than it did the previous one.
AquaExchange is a company that specializes in the provision of technology-based solutions for aquaculture farmers. Crop yield enhancement, hazard reduction, and growing input prices characterize its thematic focus. The organization’s product line includes such clever gadgets as PowerMon to help manage power and AquaBot that make feeding processing automated. The urgency of reducing efficiency and productivity in aquaculture practices has become more pressing as the industry faces insurmountable challenges.
Growing Costs and Financial Stress
However, that growth in revenue did not quite translate to the financial health of AquaExchange as expenses ascended in FY24. Though the cost and expenses of material consumed increased nearly three times from ₹71.18 crore in FY23 to ₹94.36 crore in FY24, employee benefit expenses ballooned by a whopping 3.85 times to ₹13.10 crore. This sharp increase in employee cost indicates that the company is heavily investing in talent acquisition and retention, probably to follow the intents of the company.
Finance cost also steeply increased and stood at ₹1.98 crore from ₹0.68 crore that of the last year, therefore it seems that the AquaExchange company is facing higher borrowing costs or even higher interest cost. Besides, the depreciation and amortization cost has also increased to ₹3.18 crore, which gives an indication of the company continuing to invest in technology and infrastructure.
After all these rocketing costs, AquaExchange’s total expenses for FY24 amounted to ₹117 crore. The chasm between the growth in revenues and the rise in expenditures injected a chilling alarm as the losses increased by 92% to ₹9.35 crore in FY24. High losses depict the growing problem that the startup is facing in its quest to stop its expense lines from growing alongside its quest to grow in such an aggressive sector.
Investment and Market Position
Despite the financial constraints, AquaExchange has still been able to attract staggering investments to a level that has risen to nearly $10 million from significant investors, such as Ocean 14 Capital, Endiya Partners, and Accion Venture Labs. Such funding shows that the investors believe in the business model of AquaExchange and the sustainable ability to disrupt the aquaculture sector through technological innovation.
It is headed by its founder and CEO, Pavan Kosaraju who holds more than 45% of company ownership, which speaks to the man as a very fundamental decision-maker in the middle of the growth path that the firm is projected to take in the near future.
His management will be very pivotal when AquaExchange will try to make revenue grow even as cost management will be effective in the fiscal year coming up.
As AquaExchange moves forward, it must face more than sustained revenue growth; it needs to be successful in controlling increasing expenses. The aquaculture sector is developing further due to the increase in the demand for seafood and the interests in the sustainable practices of the sector. Improving efficiency through technology is on top of the focus that places AquaExchange at an advantage in this evolving landscape.
