BYJU’s revenue jumps 2X to Rs 500 Cr in FY18; losses shrink 40% to Rs 37 Cr
Less than a month ago, edtech startup BYJU’s had covered headlines with its massive $540 million funding round led by South African conglomerate Naspers at approximately $3.6 billion valuation. This had turned the company into the 4th most valuable startup in India.
The financial performance of the company in the fiscal year 2017-18, is a testament to this rise in valuation.
In FY18, the company recorded a 2X jump in the revenue from Rs 248.12 crore in FY17 to Rs 500.21 crore. The net sales contributing 94.3 per cent to the revenue, also took a 2X jump from Rs 230.22 crore to Rs 471.8 crore.
The BYJU’s revenue comes from several sources including educational services, the sale of products like tablets, DVDs and worksheets meant for educational use.
The expenses in the latest reported fiscal year also increased by 73.7 per cent to Rs 537.38 crore from Rs 309.38 crore in FY17. Marketing and Promotional cost in other expenses accounted for 35.1 per cent of the total expenses, standing at Rs 188.5 crore.
The magnitude of marketing and promotional expenses is largely due to the company’s appointment of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan as the brand ambassador.
With the doubling of the revenue and a lesser increase in expense, the losses of the ed-tech giant reduced by 39.3 per cent, from Rs 61.23 crore to Rs 37.15 in FY18.
During the fiscal year, the firm had raised $40 million from Tencent Holdings and had made several acquisitions like Tutorvista and Edurite. In 2018, it had acquired Math Adventures to ramp up its KG-3 segment.
The company that had started as an online coaching platform for competitive exams later had expanded into teaching students from 4th to 5th grades as well.
Now, BYJU’s not only wished to start coaching sessions for 1st to 3rd standard kids but is also eyeing international expansion. It is looking for distributor partners in UK, US, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia for the same.
However, last year the company’s CEO Byju Raveendran had claimed that the company will reach profitability by FY18, and that is clearly nowhere the case. It remains to be seen how these new aspirations fare out for the company.
Source: Entrackr
