BENGALURU: Nine years after it was founded, Mobile adtech company InMobi may be close to making its first profit.
The company will be “the only unicorn that will be profitable, not just operational, but net profit,” InMobi’s co-founder and chief executive Naveen Tewari told HT, as the June quarter draws to a close.
Unicorn is the term used for startups that are valued at $1 billion or more. There is doubt whether InMobi is still a unicorn or not, with a recent report pegging its value closer to $800 million. However, Tewari disagreed: “I don’t even know how to justify that number because it is as obscure as it can get. [It is] irrelevant and meaningless. It has no standing anywhere. I don’t even know how to defend it.”
There has been rising consciousness about startups turning profitable in India, with investors questioning the cash-burn, deep discount, high-volume, high-loss model of e-commerce companies.
InMobi has been one of the stars of India’s start-up scenario, but has been subject to scrutiny of late over funding, the exit of senior executives and talks of an initial public offering. Japan’s telecom giant Softbank is among the earliest investors in InMobi with a $200 million investment in 2011. Since 2007, InMobi has raised a little over $300 million in funding.
Back in 2014, the then finance head, Manish Dugar had said the company was two months away from becoming profitable. It did not happen, and last month, Dugar quit, becoming the most recent top executive exit at InMobi.
{{/usCountry}}Back in 2014, the then finance head, Manish Dugar had said the company was two months away from becoming profitable. It did not happen, and last month, Dugar quit, becoming the most recent top executive exit at InMobi.
{{/usCountry}}However, Tewari said that with the exception of Dugar and chief revenue officer Atul Satija, who left the company last year, most exits were mid to lower level managers, and the company’s attrition rates were” within acceptable limits”.
The company is pinning its hopes on Miip, a product launched in August 2015 that has helped it find new revenue streams from existing customers, pushing it closer to profitability. InMobi said Miip is enabling leading e-commerce companies in India are logging up to 7% better sales.
Tewari said InMobi will be ready to go public when revenue crosses $1 billion, which he hopes should happen in two years. The company’s revenue, however, is yet to cross half a billion dollars. So the IPO may still be a way off.