Urban Company expects losses in its ‘InstaHelp’ business to remain high
The Company's consolidated net loss of Rs 159 crore for the fourth quarter of FY26 was sharply higher than the Rs 3 crore loss recorded in the corresponding quarter last year
New Delhi, June 10: Home services platform Urban Company, which has reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 159 crore for the fourth quarter of FY26, expects the losses for its housekeeping service ‘InstaHelp’ to stay elevated in the coming quarters.
The Company’s consolidated net loss of Rs 159 crore for the fourth quarter of FY26 was sharply higher than the Rs 3 crore loss recorded in the corresponding quarter last year, according to stock exchange filings released on May 8.
The company had posted a net loss of Rs 20 crore in the December quarter of FY26.
The losses came as the company ramps up investments in InstaHelp, its 10-minute quick-service business, amid rising competition from emerging players such as Snabbit and Pronto.
Urban Company, which currently leads the segment, has indicated it will continue investing aggressively to defend its market position.
In the financial year 2026 shareholder letter, the company added that from near-zero at the start of FY26, the service exited the last quarter at around 2.7 million orders and Rs 40 crore of net transaction value (NTV), with March alone crossing 1.1 million orders.
The revenue from operations stood at Rs 17 crore.
“Q4 Adjusted EBITDA loss was Rs 119 crore, reflecting two-sided subsidies to densify the network, supply onboarding and marketing for new trials. Losses will stay elevated in the coming quarters as we invest to cement leadership,” the company said.
Following the Mumbai success, the company scaled InstaHelp across four more metropolitan hubs, including Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad and Pune.
InstaHelp’s rapid scale-up has been supported by improvements in fulfilment efficiency, partner availability and micromarket density across cities.
“InstaHelp has successfully moved Urban Company from a ‘service-on-demand’ platform to a ‘daily-habit’ platform. By increasing household touchpoints, we believe that InstaHelp can serve as a powerful funnel for our core portfolio, encouraging new-to-platform users to explore core services such as beauty and appliance repair,” the company added.
Urban Company’s FY26 NTV (ex-KSA) grew 33 per cent year-on-year, while net revenue (ex-KSA) grew 41 per cent. In the fourth quarter alone, consolidated NTV grew by 42 per cent YoY, highest over the last 15 quarters. Adjusted Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) (ex-InstaHelp) grew nearly ninefold, from Rs 12 crore to Rs 106 crore.
“We expect InstaHelp burn to remain elevated over the next few quarters as we prioritise densification, broader micro-market coverage, and accelerated partner onboarding. Our framework for calibrating burn is anchored to a few leading indicators: consumer retention and order frequency, partner utilisation, NTV growth and loss per order trajectory,” the company explained.
The company added that its core India consumer service business was loss-making as recently as FY24. In FY26, it generated Rs 131 crore of adjusted Ebitda with more than 35 per cent of incremental revenue flowing to the bottom line. (BVI)
