German startup factory Rocket Internet announced today financial results for some of its portfolio startups in the first nine months of 2016.
The earnings statement touts several achievements, such as improving profit margins and net revenue, bragging that selected companies have reached record revenue in the year so far.
But a cursory reference much lower down points to a darker reality: the well-funded firm – which runs a number of startups such as Foodpanda, Zalora, and Daraz – lost US$682 million in the first nine months of 2016. It had issued a warning to this effect in September, saying fair-value adjustments would impact its financial position.
Rocket attributes most of the loss to a slump in the value of its fashion e-commerce startups, which were collectively downgraded by more than US$2 billion earlier this year.
“We have respectively been impacted primarily by deconsolidation of subsidiaries and impairment-related charges of associated companies,” said a Rocket Internet representative.
It’s not short on cash, however, with US$1.7 billion in the bank and a further US$1.16 billion available at the portfolio startups.
Source: techinasia.com
