Better World Technology Pvt Ltd, the Indian entity of fintech SaaS unicorn Zeta, turned profitable in the financial year ended March 31, 2023. It reported a profit after tax (PAT) of INR 21.94 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) as against a loss of INR 20.7 Cr in FY22.

The Bengaluru-based fintech SaaS unicorn’s revenue from operations grew almost 33% to INR 816.20 Cr in FY23 from INR 615.05 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Total income, including other income, rose to INR 817.79 Cr in FY23 from INR 616.11 Cr in the previous year, an increase of 32.73%.

Founded by Bhavin Turakhia and Ramiki Gaddipati in 2015, Zeta offers an omni stack platform to financial institutions for processing and issuing debit and credit cards, offering loans, and fraud and risk management.

Its products are used by banks like RBL Bank, IDFC First Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank among others. French food services and facilities company Sodexo also uses Zeta’s offerings to process its payments.

The startup also offers digitised solutions to enterprises such as automated cafeteria billing and more. It has developed an access control server (ACS) for ecommerce players to offer differentiated security features for payments.

The Expenditure Breakdown

The Bengaluru-based unicorn’s total expenses grew 24.97% to INR 795.85 Cr in FY23 from INR 636.82 Cr in FY22.

Employee Benefit Costs The Biggest Expense: Employee costs rose 22.53% to INR 631.57 Cr from INR 515.44 Cr in the previous fiscal year and accounted for 79% of the total expenditure. Staff welfare expenses almost grew over 3X to INR 12.13 Cr in FY23 from INR 3.97 Cr in FY22.

Other Expenses In Check: Unlike FY22, when other expenses more than doubled year-on-year, other expenses, which included rent, training recruitment expenses, and legal charges, increased just 35% to INR 151.07 Cr from INR 111.86 Cr in the previous fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the startup’s cash and cash equivalents declined 54.91% to INR 25.89 Cr in FY23 from 57.42 Cr in FY22. EBITDA margin improved to 2.68% in FY23 from -3.36% in FY22.

Zeta, which entered the unicorn club in May 2021 after raising $250 Mn in a funding round led by Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank, has raised a total funding of $340 Mn till date. It counts names like Softbank Vision Fund, Sodexo, and Mastercard among its backers.

Besides India, Zeta’s offerings are available in countries like Brazil, Spain, the Philippines, and Vietnam. In an interview with Hindu Business Line, Turakhia said the startup is looking to expand its presence in North America, considering it constitutes about 30%-35% of the global revenue opportunity in the sector it operates in.