Need some extra cash or extra assistance? Sites like online marketplace Airtasker (ASX: ART) make it possible. After suffering a slew of losses in FY22, the Company had to make some drastic moves to get back on track, and it appears to be working.
Airtasker Group posted revenue growth of 40.4% on FY22 to $44.2 million, thanks to organic growth in the Australian Airtasker marketplaces and the full year contribution from the Oneflare—another online jobs marketplace—acquired in May 2022. The result also reflected strong revenue growth in the UK and US marketplaces of 83.3% to $900k.
Airtasker co-founder and CEO, Tim Fung, said, “I’m super pleased to report another record result for Airtasker in FY23 with revenue up 40%, net cash outflow down 24% and strong growth in our US and UK marketplaces. We’re now really well positioned with more than $16.1 million in cash on balance sheet and are on track for a free cash flow positive result in FY24.”
He added, “At the same time, we’re super excited to turbocharge Airtasker in the UK via our $6.7 million media-for-equity partnership with Channel 4, replicating the success we achieved in Australia and readying our media partnership strategy for further global scale.”
Airtasker is a digital marketplace in Australia for local services, bridging the gap between individuals requiring tasks to be completed and those wanting jobs. Since its inception in 2012, Airtasker has catered to over 1.3 million unique paying customers, resulting in over $500 million being earned by community taskers after deducting Airtasker’s fees.
The Company’s Gross Marketplace Volume (GMV) increased by 34% to $253.5 million. The marketplaces in Australia achieved a total revenue of $43.2 million, showing a significant increase of 39.7%. Among these, the Airtasker marketplace in Australia recorded a revenue of $33.7 million, marking a growth of 13%, and the Oneflare marketplace contributed $9.5 million. The collective gross profit for the Australian marketplaces surged by 41.7% on FY22, reaching $41 million.
Its UK GMV rose by 37% with revenue up 93% to about $900k. Even more consequential, tasks posted on its US platform were up 158% to 64,000 with tasker offers up 300% to 106,000.
In FY23, the Airtasker marketplace take rate, i.e. fees collected, increased to 17.6% (compared with 16.6% in FY22) driven by an increase in task completion rates and the ongoing optimisation of Airtasker’s fee structure. Consequently, its EBITDA for FY23 represented an improvement of 53.1% to a loss of $8 million versus a loss of $17.1 million in FY22.
While the uptick in demand is good news, it’s not the only reason behind Airtasker’s improved financial position.
In April 2023, Airtasker announced the layoff of 20% of its workforce to reduce expenses. The headcount reduction was completed in Q4 FY23 incurring full year one-off costs of $1.2 million. At the same time, Airtasker decided to exit from its non-core businesses acquired as part of the Oneflare—another online jobs marketplace—portfolio in May 2022.
The exit from these businesses is expected to be completed in H1 FY24. These initiatives will reduce FY24 revenue by approximately $1 million, but they are expected to have a positive impact on operating expenses and cash flow.
As the Company takes on media partnerships globally, it’s hoping to become the perfect matchmaker for taskees and taskers.
Alinda is a Business Reporter for The Sentiment
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