Just nine months after its February debut, the fintech company Jar, financed by Tiger Global and best known for its digital gold savings product, has surpassed Rs 100 crore in annualised recurring revenue (ARR) from its jewellery e-commerce component Nek, according to co-founder and CEO Nishchay AG.
In addition to promoting its primary digital gold savings function through a recent relationship with PhonePe, the company is looking into forming other alliances with other UPI platforms and e-commerce businesses. “We are in talks to establish similar commission-based partnerships with top UPI players and e-commerce platforms, which will help us scale more quickly while lowering our acquisition costs,” Nishchay stated.
Driven by its main savings platform and early momentum from Nek, Jar recorded operational revenue of Rs 49 crore for FY24, up from Rs 8.7 crore in FY23. As it continues to expand its loan and jewellery services, the business anticipates that its revenue will increase five to six times in FY25. Nek has created new chances by cross-selling jewellery to current customers without incurring further marketing costs, Nishchay said, even if its primary platform makes money via wholesale retail arbitrage in digital gold. Another source is lending. Five NBFCs have joined with Jar to offer loans, and there are plans to add more. Charges range from 1.5% to 4.5%, depending on the loan profile.
According to Nishchay, most growth is driven by Nek, which enables customers to turn their digital gold deposits into jewelry. By 2030, the fast-expanding Indian jewellery market is expected to reach $250–300 billion. In the next five years, we want to take four to five per cent of that market,” he stated. For now, Jar prioritises expansion over profitability, even though its burn rate decreased by 15% to Rs 103.97 crore in FY24 from Rs 123 crore in FY23.
The company’s foray into e-commerce coincides with the trend of jewellery purchases moving away from traditional retail and online platforms. Demand from tier 2 and tier 3 cities drove a fivefold spike in online sales of gold and diamond jewellery during the holiday season, according to e-commerce sites like Amazon. E-commerce is one of many areas seeing momentum. During the same period, sales of gold coins increased sixfold, while silver coins increased fourfold, according to quick commerce platforms like Zepto. By concentrating on tier 2+ cities, which comprise the majority of its core user base for digital savings, Nek hopes to capitalise on this trend.
With its most recent Series B round of $22.6 million in 2022, Jar has raised $61.6 million in capital, valuing the company at $306 million. According to Tracxn, the founders own 41.2% of the company, followed by the ESOP pool (14.2%), angel investors (10.5%), Tiger Global (9.4%), and Arkam Ventures (7.8%). Others hold the remaining 15%.
