Urban Company Limited — Q4 FY26 earnings call

I'd say the level of competitive intensity that we're seeing, and irrationality that we're seeing, right now is pretty manageable. We are not perturbed by it. If anything, we're very clear that we're playing to win. And, and not playing, to look elegant. And sometimes, in the short run, you know, either you can optimize for market share, or you can optimize for on-paper elegance. And we're not optimizing for elegance. We're optimizing to win, we're optimizing for market share, and which means if we have to be irrational from time to time, we should be willing to be irrational as well.

Management explicitly stated a strategy of prioritizing market share and willingness to be 'irrational' over short-term elegance, indicating continued investment and potential losses in InstaHelp.

Asked by Manish Adukia

The business trajectory has grown well. Business has grown by, 67% on an NTV basis, even faster on net revenue. And, the margins have improved. So, same time last year, the margin trajectory was negative 14.7%. of NTV, and now it's, negative 9.9%. So margins have improved... it should happen in the next few quarters, I would say.

Management provided specific figures on Native's improved margin trajectory and a clear, albeit short-term, timeline for achieving breakeven, indicating confidence in this segment's path to profitability.

Asked by Sachin Salgaonkar

It's a very large and complex business. We have 60-plus service categories spread across 47 cities, in hundreds of micro-markets... We believe that many of our categories and micro-markets are hitting an inflection point. From a densification standpoint which is driving the simple flywheel, what we've talked about in our shareholder's letter, of faster, cheaper, better.

Management explained the underlying structural drivers (densification, 'faster, cheaper, better' flywheel) behind the accelerated growth in the core India business, suggesting a sustainable trend.

Asked by Manish Adukia

what I'd say is that our leaning is always towards densification and going deeper and penetrating existing micro-markets. We'll continue to expand coverage in a calibrated fashion, but we do believe that the most important micro-markets have to be won, and therefore, densifying and penetrating them deeper will be priority over proliferation... I think full coverage may not happen even for a long period of time, because, in certain parts of the city, there might not be adequate density for me to be able to have effective cost to serve.

Management clarified its strategic focus on densification and winning in core micro-markets for InstaHelp, indicating a pragmatic approach to expansion rather than broad, unprofitable coverage.

Asked by Srinath V

I think at the end of the day, any player that executes well on quality, on safety, on trust and doesn't take the customer's trust for granted, can eventually gain acceptance... We're certainly one of the trusted players, in our view. We also think to be able to do this across 60-plus categories and hundreds of micro-markets, in categories in our core business where the complexity of the business is much higher... competition keeps us honest, you know, keeps us, charged up, and delivers the best services to the end consumers.

Management emphasized that trust and quality execution across a complex multi-category business are key differentiators, suggesting a sustainable competitive advantage despite new entrants.

Asked by Pranaya Jain

one of the main services for us, a fairly important service in both UAE and Singapore is cleaning... We've been able to launch, subscription programs and lock in, essentially, these households and users into more high-frequency deep cleaning... Some of those learnings can certainly be helpful for us here in India as well. We are toying with and experimenting with cleaning subscriptions. I believe over time, we will experiment with versions of these in InstaHelp as well.

Management detailed the success of subscription models in international markets, particularly for deep cleaning, and indicated plans to adapt these learnings for InstaHelp and other services in India.

Asked by Dipak Saha

we've actually built a solid layer of Al on top of our core platform, which is now embedded in everyday operations... We are leveraging AI extensively in proof of work... 55% of all partner support queries are now handled effectively through AI... We've always been using Al for demand forecasting... more than 90% of our code is being shipped, by GenAI.

Management provided specific examples of how AI is being integrated across quality, customer support, demand forecasting, revenue generation, and software development, highlighting its broad operational impact.

Asked by Manish Adukia

You're right, InstaHelp's density is far more granular compared to core... Does that constrain the TAM? Maybe... Whatever it is, we want to win it. That's how we think about it. I think we don't have a choice. We have to win, and we have to win big. If it's a very large TAM, great. If it's a medium-sized TAM, that's also good for us, because we have other businesses that we live and eat our bread off, so this business only helps accelerate those, and it plays a certain role in terms of frequency and engagement on the app.

Management reiterated its aggressive 'win at all costs' strategy for InstaHelp, emphasizing its role in accelerating other businesses and increasing app engagement, regardless of the ultimate TAM size.

Asked by Abhishek Pathak