Zoomcar Q2 FY 2025-2026 Earnings Call - Sustained Profitability and Organic Growth in Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing
Summary
Zoomcar reported a steady quarter with eight consecutive profitable contribution quarters, highlighting the strength of its peer-to-peer car-sharing model. Despite a 6% decline in booking volume, the company posted a 2% revenue increase and a 14% year-over-year adjusted EBITDA improvement, narrowing net losses by 76% to $0.79 million. Zoomcar’s strategy of zero marketing spend or host incentives underscores a growing organic platform loyalty with 57% repeat users and a 46% rise in high-quality hosts, reinforcing the resilience of its asset-light marketplace approach.
The market potential remains vast with India’s low car ownership and rising urban digital adoption. Improved contribution margins at 52% on GAAP revenue and controlled operating expenses position Zoomcar favorably for scaling. The company is actively pursuing capital infusion and is planning an uplisting by March 2026 to fuel an anticipated 10x growth. Operational efficiency, prudent cost controls, and platform stickiness set a foundation for near-term break-even and long-term sustainable value creation in India’s evolving mobility landscape.
Key Takeaways
- Zoomcar leads India’s peer-to-peer car-sharing with over 10 million registered users and 42,000 hosted cars across 99 cities.
- Achieved eighth consecutive quarter of positive contribution profit, totaling $1.20 million for Q2 FY25-26.
- Per-booking contribution profit rose 5% year-over-year to $12.07, underscoring operational leverage.
- Adjusted EBITDA improved 14% year-over-year, signaling disciplined cost control and scaling efficiencies.
- Net loss narrowed sharply by 76% year-over-year to $0.79 million, reflecting steady path to profitability.
- Bookings declined slightly by 6%, but gross booking value grew 2% due to longer average trip duration and repeat usage.
- Host quality improved 46% year-over-year, with repeat users stable at 57%, indicating strong platform loyalty and guest trust.
- Zero marketing spend and no host incentives maintained, highlighting organic growth and brand strength with 90% brand awareness.
- Contribution margins held strong at 52% of GAAP revenue, a marked improvement from 37% a year ago, driven by cost optimization.
- Company aims to maintain above 50% contribution margins as it scales bookings sustainably.
- Plans underway for capital raise and stock exchange uplisting by March 2026 to fund projected 10x growth over five years.
- Asset-light model and debt restructuring lowered depreciation and interest expenses, enhancing financial stability.
- India’s low car ownership and rising digital maturity create structural long-term opportunity in self-drive mobility.
- Focus remains on sustainable, responsible growth, financial discipline, and enhancing shareholder value going forward.
Full Transcript
Anirudh Lamba, Head of Investor Relations, Zoomcar: Everyone, good evening from Bengaluru, India, and welcome to Zoomcar’s Q2 FY 2025-2026 earnings call. I am Anirudh Lamba, Head of Investor Relations. Joining me today are our CEO, Deepankar Tiwari, and CFO, Sachin Gupta. We’ll walk you through the highlights of the quarter, key financial results, and business performance. Before we begin, please note that today’s presentation may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. We also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, including contribution profit and adjusted EBITDA, which should be viewed as supplemental to GAAP metrics. Full details and reconciliations are available in our SEC filings. With that, let’s move to the business overview. Over to you, Deepankar.
Deepankar Tiwari, CEO, Zoomcar: Thank you, Anirudh. A very good morning to all the participants joining this call. Thank you for taking the time out. Ladies and gentlemen, Zoomcar continues to lead India’s peer-to-peer car-sharing category with more than 10 million registered guests, over 42,000 unique hosted cars, and a presence across 99 cities in India. Since we transitioned to a complete peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace, our brand awareness stands at 90% at YouGov’s 2025 report. This leadership comes from our asset-light model, where guests book and drive host vehicles independently. We are enabling millions to access cars without owning them, redefining mobility for urban India. For the quarter ended September 30, 2025, we recorded a contribution profit of $1.20 million, making the eighth consecutive positive quarter. Per-booking contribution profit improved by 5% year-on-year to $12.07.
Adjusted EBITDA improved by 14% year-over-year, and a net loss narrowed to $0.8 million, down from $3.4 million a year ago, a significant 76% improvement. High-quality hosts increased by 46% year-over-year, and repeat users remain consistent at 57%, signaling high platform stickiness. These gains come with disciplined spending and no large marketing outlay or host incentivization or discounting to guests, a proof of strong organic traction and community trust. India’s mobility market is at an inflection point. The total addressable market for self-drive car-sharing is expanding from current 18.5 million guests in 2025 and is likely to reach 65 million by 2031. Car ownership in India remains low at 0.1 cars per household, as compared to 2.1 in the U.S. Even as disposable incomes rise, urban consumers increasingly prefer flexibility and experience-led spending over the long-term commitment of asset ownership.
With over 1 billion internet users, digital maturity is very high, and our contribution margin turnaround from minus $2.5 to plus $12 per booking proves that model scales profitably. With macro tailwinds, proven profitability, and digital readiness, this is the perfect moment to accelerate. The opportunity is structural and long-term. We are positioned to consolidate our market leadership as the preferred peer-to-peer car-sharing platform for Indian consumers seeking flexibility over ownership. I’ll hand over to our Chief Financial Officer, Sachin Gupta, to take you through the financial overview. Sachin.
Sachin Gupta, CFO, Zoomcar: Thank you, Deepankar. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking time out to hear the earning results for Zoomcar for quarter ended September 30, 2025. With no investments in performance marketing, host incentivization, or guest discounting, while our booking numbers declined marginally by 6%, our gross booking value improved to $6.23 million, mainly due to a 22% increase in our average duration of the booking on the back of more than 57% repeat users booking with us consistently, reflecting their trust in the platform in delivering a seamless experience. Our average guest trip rating also showed an improved number of 4.76 out of 5, a testimony that the platform has delivered seamlessly and consistently year-over-year. Over to the financial measures. Our revenue for the quarter stood at $2.3 million, which is a 2% improvement year-over-year, and we continue to improve our profitability.
As a result, our contribution margins remain strong at 52% of the reported GAAP revenue, and our adjusted EBITDA improved 14% year-over-year. If just to give you a perspective, if we compare the adjusted EBITDA numbers on a year-to-date basis, that is for a six-month period ended September 30, 2025, this improvement is a significant 36%. While our loss from operations is showing a decline of 26%, however, excluding one-time non-cash RSU expenses of $685,000, loss from operations improved by nearly 18% year-over-year, reflecting continued expense discipline. The quarter also marked a record improvement in our overall profitability, with loss attributable to our shareholders reduced by a significant 76% to close at $0.79 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2025. Eight straight quarters of contribution profit underscores how durable our model is. The consistency reflects operational efficiency, healthy pricing, and host reliability.
As we scale further, maintaining contribution profitability remains a key discipline before we accelerate top-line growth. Our adjusted EBITDA trajectory continues to improve even as we continue to launch and scale our offerings to more cities continuously, driven by stronger margins and tighter cost control. The positive slope demonstrates that even as we look to expand our coverage, our cost base is stabilizing and our efficiency ratios are improving. We are well on track towards operating break-even. Now, on the fundraise side, appropriate funding is what is a next step to launch this growth engine that can bring about a 10x growth in the next five years. We are currently working to raise additional capital to fund this growth, and the plan is to get uplisted by the end of fiscal year ended March 31, 2026. We further continue to restructure our debts.
Our fundraising being work in progress, coupled with a strong financial discipline and a continuous restructuring of debt by the management in the current year, the company has managed to keep the total liabilities stable at the same levels as of March 25 reported numbers. Now, these initiatives have strengthened our balance sheet, improved liquidity, and enhanced operational efficiency and sustainability quarter over quarter. Additionally, it puts us in a situation where the company is poised to maximize the stakeholders’ value as and when the growth funds are made available for investment. Here we present reconciliations for the contribution profits and adjusted EBITDA in the next couple of slides for three and six months ended September 30, 2025, as compared to three and six months ended September 30, 2024. Now, these adjustments exclude non-cash items like stock fees, compensation, and one-time restructuring cost.
While we believe that these non-GAAP measures provide a realistic view of the performance of the company, we would request you to review them along with the other GAAP measures presented in the earnings call published earlier in the press release and also included in the 10Q to be filed later in the day today. However, both these non-GAAP measures provide a clear view of operational performance, margins consistently above 50%, and losses narrowing every quarter. Our contribution margins stood at 52% for quarter two of fiscal year ended fiscal year 2025-2026 and 51% for the year-to-date six months ended September 30, 2025, compared to a contribution profit of 37% for a comparable period last year. Improvement was driven by better cost control, optimized operations across the board. Our goal is to maintain contribution margins above 50% while scaling bookings through organic demand.
Adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed 14% year-over-year, reflecting efficiency in overheads and financing. Depreciation and interest costs have declined due to asset-light approach and debt restructuring. This positive momentum keeps us on the path towards operating profitability in the next fiscal period. Over to our CEO, Deepankar Tiwari, for the closing remarks on this quarterly results.
Deepankar Tiwari, CEO, Zoomcar: Thank you, Sachin. Ladies and gentlemen, to sum up, we achieved eight quarters of contribution profit, a 2% organic gross booking value growth without any spends on marketing or incentives, consistent stickiness of our repeat users, and a significant number of high-quality hosts coming onto the platform, thereby significantly increasing the guest experience. Our adjusted EBITDA improved by 14%, and net loss narrowed by a significant 76%. These are the results of disciplined execution and a validated business model. Our focus remains on sustainable and responsible growth and scaling up, financial stability, and a long-term shareholder value. Thank you.
Sachin Gupta, CFO, Zoomcar: Thank you, Deepankar and Sachin, and thanks to everyone for joining. This concludes Zoomcar’s Q2 FY25-26 earnings presentation. Thank you.
