Fintech unicorn Slice has a loss of Rs 267 Cr in FY22

Losses of Bengaluru-based fintech unicorn Slice widened 2X to Rs 267 crore in FY22 from Rs 103.87 crore in the previous fiscal.

At the same time, the company achieved an operating income of Rs 182.53 crore, significantly higher than the Rs 37 crore it reported in the previous year.

With this, the fintech startup’s total revenue for FY22 was Rs 217.9 crore, 456% higher than Rs 39 crore in FY21.

The digital lending and payments platform’s majority revenue came from commission income, which increased to Rs 109.27 crore from Rs 19.5 crore in FY21, while the rest accounted for internet processing fees of Rs 73.26 crore from Rs 17.78 crore.

According to the RoC filing data, the company’s expenses increased by nearly 240% to Rs 485.23 crore from Rs 143.6 crore in the previous fiscal.

Breaking down expenses, Slice spent Rs 209 crore on promotional activities, against Rs 6 crore in the previous year. At the same time, subscription fees increased from Rs 5 crore to Rs 20 crore.

Expenditure on employee benefits, including wages and salaries, also increased from Rs 23 crore to Rs 80 crore in FY22.

Recently, the Tiger Global-backed startup acquired a 5% stake in Guwahati-headquartered small finance bank, Indian Bank North East Small Finance, this year. It is yet to be deciphered how the deal will immediately benefit the platform, which was among the worst hit by the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) circular on digital lending norms issued last year.

The regulator had come down hard on fintechs operating in the card and digital lending space, as it prevented prepaid payment instruments (PPIs), including prepaid cards, from being loaded with lines of credit.

Slice, which offered prepaid cards through a partnership with State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) India, was among the worst-hit players since it was its core business.

Following the announcement, the RBI asked the company to stop bringing in new customers while the fintech temporarily suspended its cards in November to make the transition to a new system.

Recently, after receiving in-principle approval for the PPI license from the RBI, a source quoted by Economic Timessaid, “Slice has received the PPI license from RBI and the product has gone live with a few select users as well. With this, they hope to welcome more users who want to come to Slice.”

The fintech company is now reportedly looking to offer PPI accounts with minimum know-your-customer (KYC) requirements to teenagers to expand its user base.