Truecaller said that it has crossed another milestone and achieved over 200 million monthly active users worldwide, out of which 75% are from India. The caller identification service also said that it has turned profitable from last four months from their ad based revenue system which accounts for more than 50% profit and an additional premium subscription service accounting for the rest of it.
India is ranked fifth globally among countries receiving most spam calls, out of which 10% come from fraudulent financial service providers, according to company released data. This is where Truecaller steps in and provides a platform to users where they can detect or report spam calls and also block them. The higher number of spam calls than average makes it a convenient service for most Indians.
Truecaller also credits the boost in revenues to additional premium subscription service that it provides. The service helps in generating 30% of company’s revenue whereas ads account for more than 50% income. The service offered for $2.99 per month in the U.S. is offered at comparatively cheaper price of 70 cents in India. There are currently more than a million subscribers which Truecaller further predicts to grow by 50% in the coming months.
The Stockholm-based company is miles ahead of its Seattle based nearest competitor Hiya, another global phone directory which stands at 100 million users as reported in October last year.
Truecaller has expanded beyond providing a caller ID service. It has added additional messaging and payment service in India, which it plans to expand in more markets like Africa. The Swedish app is also showing keen interest in Indias fintech space, where it plans to offer digital lending services to boost revenues.
Although there are already big players like Paytm and PhonePe involved in payment gateways, what makes Truecaller unique is that it doesn’t have to shell out tons of money to gain users.
Alan Mamedi, co-founder and CEO told TechCrunch in an interview, “It’s been a very proud moment for us, especially in an industry where most companies spend a lot of money to onboard users,” he added, “Truecaller has raised about $99 million to date, per Crunchbase, and counts Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins among its investors.”
This is a concrete milestone to build a financially sustainable independent company as Truecaller aims to go for an IPO in two years’ time. Mamedi also hinted that the company can make more quick business decisions like acquiring startups for boosting growth which indicates company’s flexibility in deciding area of operation.
