Value commerce platform Meesho reported a sharp widening of losses in the third quarter of FY26 as it accelerated spending on advertising and user acquisition to tap the next wave of India’s internet shoppers. The SoftBank-backed company said the higher investments were aimed at building long-term scale, even as near-term profitability came under pressure.

Meesho posted a net loss of ₹490.7 crore in Q3 FY26, a 13-fold increase from a loss of ₹37.4 crore in the same quarter last year. Losses also rose sequentially from ₹411.4 crore in Q2 FY26, according to regulatory filings. During the quarter, the company increased advertising and sales promotion spends to 2.4% of net merchandise value (NMV), up from 1.3% a year earlier, focusing on awareness, traffic acquisition and initial customer incentives.

Despite higher losses, revenue performance remained strong. Revenue from operations grew 32% year-on-year to ₹3,517.6 crore, compared with ₹2,673.6 crore in Q3 FY25, supported by growth in both users and sellers. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, revenue increased from ₹3,073.7 crore. Total expenses rose 44% year-on-year to ₹4,071.3 crore, driven by higher outlays on marketing, technology and user growth initiatives.

The company’s aggressive expansion strategy translated into scale gains. Annual transacting users rose 34% year-on-year to 251 million, while annual transacting sellers grew 81% to 846,000. However, adjusted Ebitda marketplace margin stood at -4.2%, translating to a loss of ₹460 crore, reflecting lower contribution margins and accelerated investments.

Looking ahead, Meesho expects a meaningful improvement in adjusted Ebitda margins over the next two quarters, supported by logistics cost recovery and operating leverage from FY26 investments. The company is also sharpening its focus on improving advertising returns for sellers through better targeting, predictable outcomes and deep-learning models to enhance ad relevance and ROI.