Many of the world’s largest and most valued unicorns may still be struggling to turn capital-hungry ideas into net cash generators, but India’s edtech giant — Byju’s — has done it in style. According to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the company’s parent firm Think & Learn Pvt Ltd turned in a standalone net profit of Rs 20.16 crore in fiscal year 2018-19, compared to a loss of Rs 28.65 crore in the previous fiscal.
The company’s standalone revenue from operations also savoured during the year, increasing to Rs 1,281.08 crore in FY19 from Rs 460.87 crore in the preceding fiscal.
Company officials such as BYJU’S chief operating officer Mrinal Mohit note that its rapid rise and increase in profitability has come on the backs of a sharp rise in users from non-metro towns.
“We have exceeded the financial goals we set at the beginning of the year. Expanding our base across smaller towns and cities and introducing new products have been pivotal to our growth,” Mohit said.
The company currently has over 40 million registered users and 2.8 million paid subscribers. It provides its learning programmes in both English and Hindi.
The company’s rising user base was a reflection of the increasing acceptance and adoption of digital learning across India, Mohit pointed out.“With 60 percent of our students based outside the metros, the aspiration and need for quality learning has never been higher,” he said in a statement, adding that Byju’s has much bigger plans for the future. The edtech start-up has set itself a target of doubling its revenue to Rs 3,000 crore in the current financial year. Its consolidated losses have also narrowed in FY19, going to Rs 8.82 crore from a loss of Rs 37.15 crore in FY18.
“We will also be launching BYJU’S Online Tutoring, which will further accelerate growth and profitability in the coming year,” Mohit said. BYJU’s is also planning to penetrate deeper into India by launching programmes in vernacular languages.
“We have always focused on sustainable growth and our efforts will continue to be on creating learning experiences that help students become better learners. Being the world’s most valuable edtech company today, we strongly believe that we have the capability to create a global product that can revolutionise learning for students across the world,” Mohit said.
BYJU’S had received a whopping $540 million (Rs 3,865 crore) in funding in December last year, with the company disclosing in April this year that it had crossed Rs 200 crore in monthly revenues.
Signifies rising acceptance of digital learning
Its rising user base was a reflection of the increasing acceptance and adoption of digital learning across India. It has over 40 million registered users and 2.8 million paid subscribers