BENGALURU : Meesho will accelerate investments in AI-powered features in the coming quarters, after tech tools like voice search Vaani and recommendation engine PRISM helped boost both transacting user base and purchase frequency in the January-March period.

Meesho's annual transacting user base rose 32% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 264 million in the March quarter of FY26, while net merchandise value (NMV) grew 43% to ₹11,371 crore, as the small-town-focussed e-commerce company added new users and existing customers made repeat purchases. Investments into artificial intelligence (AI)-led cataloguing and voice agents also helped expand its seller base in FY26, by 87% to 9.6 lakh, Dhiresh Bansal, chief financial officer at Meesho, said during the earnings call on Wednesday.

“Vaani, our AI shopping agent launched in Q4, extends Meesho into agentic, voice-led conversational commerce for vernacular cohorts and first-time e-commerce consumers. It crossed 1.5 million users in the first month and delivered a 22% conversion lift for users who adopted,” Bansal said.

Deepening AI integration

In its latest shareholder letter, the SoftBank-backed company said more than 70% of its code is now AI-generated, allowing it to release products “faster and with greater reliability than at any point in our history.”

The Bengaluru-based company said it is now investing in autonomous software development systems where AI agents handle coding, testing, reviews and deployment, while engineers focus on architecture and complex problem-solving.

The Bengaluru-based company’s fourth-quarter loss narrowed 88% to ₹166 crore, from ₹1,391 crore a year ago, while operating revenue grew to ₹3,531 crore during the quarter. However, this reduction in losses was due to the massive one-off charge Meesho reported the same quarter a year earlier.

However, the company’s aggressive spending weighed on margins and cash flow. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) for the marketplace business widened to a loss of ₹1,178 crore in FY26 from ₹117 crore in FY25, with adjusted Ebitda margin deteriorating to negative 2.8% of NMV from negative 0.4% a year earlier.

Investment strategy, outlook

Meesho said FY26 was “an investment year,” citing higher customer acquisition costs, technology infrastructure spending and temporary logistics disruptions caused by consolidation in the third-party logistics industry during the fiscal year 2026.

Delhivery acquired Ecom Express in April 2025, which prompted e-commerce players including Meesho to divert logistics operations elsewhere in subsequent quarters. Meesho, in response, focused on its in-house logistics platform Valmo for last-mile deliveries.

The company said indirect advertising and sales promotion spending more than doubled year-on-year to ₹990 crore as it aggressively acquired first-time e-commerce users. Technology infrastructure costs also increased as Meesho invested in large language models, AI agents and machine learning systems.

Founder and chief executive Vidit Aatrey framed the spending as necessary to capture India’s next wave of online shoppers, particularly users from smaller cities and vernacular-language markets.

“We are now at an inflection point where the rate at which we can remove accessibility barriers is fundamentally faster than it has ever been,” Aatrey wrote in the letter.

Aatrey acknowledged macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical risks but said Meesho would continue investing aggressively in user acquisition and platform development wherever returns justified the spend.

“The macro will shape how the next two or three quarters look. It does not change where we are going,” he wrote. “India’s next 500 million consumers will decide what e-commerce in this country becomes, and our job is to keep building with them.”

BENGALURU : Meesho will accelerate investments in AI-powered features in the coming quarters, after tech tools like voice search Vaani and recommendation engine PRISM helped boost both transacting user base and purchase frequency in the January-March period.

Meesho's annual transacting user base rose 32% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 264 million in the March quarter of FY26, while net merchandise value (NMV) grew 43% to ₹11,371 crore, as the small-town-focussed e-commerce company added new users and existing customers made repeat purchases. Investments into artificial intelligence (AI)-led cataloguing and voice agents also helped expand its seller base in FY26, by 87% to 9.6 lakh, Dhiresh Bansal, chief financial officer at Meesho, said during the earnings call on Wednesday.

“Vaani, our AI shopping agent launched in Q4, extends Meesho into agentic, voice-led conversational commerce for vernacular cohorts and first-time e-commerce consumers. It crossed 1.5 million users in the first month and delivered a 22% conversion lift for users who adopted,” Bansal said.

Deepening AI integration

In its latest shareholder letter, the SoftBank-backed company said more than 70% of its code is now AI-generated, allowing it to release products “faster and with greater reliability than at any point in our history.”

The Bengaluru-based company said it is now investing in autonomous software development systems where AI agents handle coding, testing, reviews and deployment, while engineers focus on architecture and complex problem-solving.

The Bengaluru-based company’s fourth-quarter loss narrowed 88% to ₹166 crore, from ₹1,391 crore a year ago, while operating revenue grew to ₹3,531 crore during the quarter. However, this reduction in losses was due to the massive one-off charge Meesho reported the same quarter a year earlier.

However, the company’s aggressive spending weighed on margins and cash flow. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) for the marketplace business widened to a loss of ₹1,178 crore in FY26 from ₹117 crore in FY25, with adjusted Ebitda margin deteriorating to negative 2.8% of NMV from negative 0.4% a year earlier.

Investment strategy, outlook

Meesho said FY26 was “an investment year,” citing higher customer acquisition costs, technology infrastructure spending and temporary logistics disruptions caused by consolidation in the third-party logistics industry during the fiscal year 2026.

Delhivery acquired Ecom Express in April 2025, which prompted e-commerce players including Meesho to divert logistics operations elsewhere in subsequent quarters. Meesho, in response, focused on its in-house logistics platform Valmo for last-mile deliveries.

The company said indirect advertising and sales promotion spending more than doubled year-on-year to ₹990 crore as it aggressively acquired first-time e-commerce users. Technology infrastructure costs also increased as Meesho invested in large language models, AI agents and machine learning systems.

Founder and chief executive Vidit Aatrey framed the spending as necessary to capture India’s next wave of online shoppers, particularly users from smaller cities and vernacular-language markets.

“We are now at an inflection point where the rate at which we can remove accessibility barriers is fundamentally faster than it has ever been,” Aatrey wrote in the letter.

Aatrey acknowledged macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical risks but said Meesho would continue investing aggressively in user acquisition and platform development wherever returns justified the spend.

“The macro will shape how the next two or three quarters look. It does not change where we are going,” he wrote. “India’s next 500 million consumers will decide what e-commerce in this country becomes, and our job is to keep building with them.”