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Meesho ramps up ad spends to 2.4% of NMV as Q3 losses widen
Meesho said it expects a significant improvement in adjusted Ebitda margins over the next two quarters, aided by logistics cost recovery and operating leverage from FY26 investments.
Meesho posts over 13 fold rise in losses in Q3 FY26 YoY
Value commerce platform Meesho reported a sharp widening of losses in the third quarter of FY2026 as it ramped up advertising and user acquisition investments to onboard the next wave of internet shoppers in India.
The SoftBank-backed company posted a net loss of Rs 490.7 crore in Q3 FY26, marking a 1,224% year-on-year increase from a loss of Rs 37.4 crore in the same period last year, according to regulatory filings. Losses also widened sequentially from Rs 411.4 crore in the previous quarter.
Revenue from operations grew 32% year-on-year to Rs 3,517.6 crore, compared with Rs 2,673.6 crore a year earlier, supported by strong user and seller growth. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, revenue increased from Rs 3,073.7 crore.
Total expenses rose 44% year-on-year to Rs 4,071.3 crore during the quarter, driven largely by higher spending on user growth, technology and marketing. Expenses had stood at Rs 2,822.8 crore in Q3 FY25 and Rs 3,540.4 crore in Q2 FY26.
Meesho said it increased investments in advertising and sales promotion to 2.4% of net merchandise value (NMV) in Q3 FY26, up from 1.3% of NMV in the year-ago quarter. The spending was directed toward awareness-building, traffic acquisition and initial customer incentives, where the company believes long-term free cash flow returns justify the investment.
The aggressive marketing push helped drive scale, with annual transacting users rising 34% year-on-year to 251 million, while annual transacting sellers grew 81% to 846,000.
Adjusted Ebitda marketplace margin stood at -4.2%, or a loss of Rs 460 crore, reflecting lower contribution margins and accelerated investments in user growth and engineering.
Looking ahead, Meesho said it expects a significant improvement in adjusted Ebitda margins over the next two quarters, aided by logistics cost recovery and operating leverage from FY26 investments. The company is also focusing on improving ad activation and returns for sellers through better targeting, predictable outcomes and the use of deep-learning models to enhance ad relevance and ROI.
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