Storia Foods, a beverage and dairy alternative brand, reported 51% year-on-year growth in FY24. However, the company’s losses widened during the same period due to rising expenses across key cost centers.
Storia Foods’ revenue from operations rose to Rs 169 crore during the last fiscal year, up from Rs 112 crore in FY23, according to its financial statement filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
Founded by Vishal Shah, Storia Foods offers sugar-free shakes, lattes, smoothies, coconut water, juices, and booster drinks, among other products. The sale of these items was the sole source of operational revenue for the company. The firm also earned Rs 2 crore from interest on deposits, which took its total revenue to Rs 171 crore in FY24.
Storia Foods’ total expenses rose 44% to Rs 203 crore in FY24, up from Rs 141 crore in the previous year. The largest cost component, material costs, increased 40% to Rs 98 crore. Employee benefit expenses grew 17% to Rs 27 crore, while other expenses jumped 63% to Rs 78 crore.
Despite strong revenue growth, the rising cost structure resulted in a net loss of Rs 33 crore in FY24 from Rs 27 crore in FY23. The firm’s EBITDA margin improved to -19.18% in FY24, compared to -24.69% in FY23. On a unit level, Storia Foods spent Rs 1.20 to earn a rupee during the fiscal year.
The Mumbai-based company reported current assets worth Rs 24 crore in FY24 which includes Rs 5 crore in cash and bank balance.
According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, Storia Foods has raised a total of $6 million in funding to date. Sixth Sense Ventures is the lead investor, holding a 23.86% stake, while founder Vishal Shah owns 20.30% of the company.
Storia Foods is a very interesting effort in a category that has been notoriously difficult to crack. If it’s not the proposition of “pure juice’ that gets you, it is the issue with the value seeking Indian buyer, who simply does not sip often enough if the price is too ‘high’ for the privilege of getting pure juice. Storia has tried an interesting tack around the challenge by trying to push many of its offerings in packs of 6, while promising quality. It will be really interesting to see if the pitch has worked in terms of orders for full packs of six or more.
Otherwise, despite a good show on growth and cost controls, the firm knows the next big challenge looms, besides the obvious one of distribution, in that it might get closer to breakeven , but within the next 2 years, it will need to confront a market that has usually stagnated for predecessors, forcing many to compromise on their original premise to keep growing with lower value, diluted offerings.