The Gurugram-based company’s net loss widened to ₹59.3 crore in the September quarter from ₹1.8 crore a year ago.
However, the quick-help services platform saw its revenue from operations rise 37% year-on-year to ₹380 crore, led by strong traction in beauty, cleaning, and home-maintenance categories.
Abhiraj Singh Bhal, co-founder and chief executive, said that the three-month period marked the beginning of an investment cycle focused on scaling new categories. “We are deliberately choosing to invest in high-frequency categories that drive deeper customer engagement,” Bhal said during an analyst call.
“Insta Help has scaled to nearly 470,000 monthly orders in just eight months, a milestone that took our India consumer business four and a half years to achieve,” he added.
He said the company’s near-term profitability would remain under pressure, but the investments were essential to build a long-term compounding business. “Controlling the end-to-end experience for customers and empowering service professionals through better training, technology, and earnings is the only sustainable growth model,” he said.
“It may not deliver quick returns, but it builds trust and long-term growth.”
The Q2 performance
Urban Company’s total value of customer orders, or net transaction value (NTV), rose 34% on-year to ₹1,030 crore, driven by strong growth across its India business, international markets, and its home products vertical, Native.
It has four main business segments—India consumer services, Insta Help, Native (products), and international operations.
However, its adjusted Ebidta (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) loss widened to ₹ ₹35 crore from a ₹21 crore profit in the previous quarter.
“The short-term margin dilution is intentional,” Bhal said. “Every rupee we spend today is about increasing platform engagement and creating long-term habit formation among customers.”
He added that while the platform is not yet generating free cash flow, its strategy is focused on long-term value creation for its shareholders. “Our goal is to maximize long-term free cash flow per share and deliver lasting value to shareholders.”
The India consumer-services segment, which includes beauty, grooming, cleaning, and appliance repair services, accounted for nearly 69% of its second-quarter revenue at ₹262 crore. The core segment continued to show healthy growth on higher repeat rates and improved partner utilization.
“We plan to reinvest in our India consumer business over the next few quarters to strengthen service depth and coverage,” Bhal said. “The segment is expected to reach adjusted Ebitda margins of around 9-10% as we scale efficiently. Insta Help will expand our overall addressable market and improve usage frequency, aligning with our long-term strategy.”
“Even with a relatively cool summer that impacted seasonal categories, our overall revenue still grew over 30%,” he said. “That’s a clear sign that diversification across services and geographies is working.”
Native, which sells home improvement and lifestyle products such as water and air purifiers, and smart locks, saw its revenue surge 179% on-year to ₹75 crore, about 20% of the total revenue. The business narrowed its quarterly loss to ₹9 crore from ₹26 crore in the year-ago period.
“Native’s gross margins have improved sharply—from a 30% loss last year to around 9% this quarter,” Bhal said. “It’s growing rapidly because of better pricing discipline and offline traction.”
The international operations, spread across the UAE and Singapore, accounted for ₹43 crore, or roughly 11% of overall revenue. The segment achieved Ebitda breakeven, with its order value growing 73% over the year-ago period, signalling steady progress in profitability outside India.
“We’re now incorporating a wholly owned subsidiary in the UAE to deepen our presence and expand Native product sales in the Gulf region,” Bhal said.
The platform currently works with over 57,000 monthly active service professionals and serves 7.4 million annual transacting users across 51 cities.
“We’re only in the early stages of expansion,” Bhal said. “Even within our 47 active cities, we’ve covered barely one-third of potential micromarkets. Over the long term, the opportunity spans the top 100-200 cities in India.”
The outlook
Urban Company’s September-quarter results underscore that it has entered a deliberate investment phase, said Sandeep Abhange, research analyst, consumer and mid-caps at financial services firm LKP Securities.
Although profitability took a temporary hit because of upfront investments in Insta Help, “management clearly sees this as a long-term growth lever that can deepen user engagement and expand the company’s daily-use category”, he added.
Urban Company’s over ₹2,100-crore balance sheet provides it with the flexibility to sustain its investment cycle, he said. “The key things to watch from here are how quickly Insta Help scales up efficiently and when Urban Company’s margins start normalizing. Given its disciplined capital management and focus on free cash flow per share as a long-term performance metric, it is well-positioned to sustain near-term investments.”
However, competition is intensifying. Bengaluru-based home-services platform Snabbit recently raised $30 million in a Series C funding round led by Bertelsmann India Investments, valuing the startup at $180 million.
Urban Company’s shares closed 2.36% higher at ₹158.30 apiece on NSE on Friday, against the Nifty’s 0.60% decline.
