Unacademy sees over four-fold growth in FY21 revenue but losses also jump six-fold

Edtech platform Unacademy’s consolidated net loss widened more than six times on the back of rising promotional and employee benefit expenses, even as it reported an over four-fold rise in its consolidated revenue for 2020-21 (FY21). 

The edtech platform, owned and operated by Sorting Hat Technologies Pvt Ltd, reported a consolidated net loss of ₹1, 537 crore for FY21 against  ₹258.7 crore in 2019-20 (FY20), the company’s filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) show. 

The company’s consolidated revenue from operations, however, jumped ₹397.69 crore from ₹64.7 crore in FY20. On a standalone basis, the company reported a net loss of ₹1,437.75 crore on a total revenue of ₹403.4 crore. 

On a consolidated basis, the company’s employee benefit expenses rose to ₹748.5 crore from ₹119.8 crore a year earlier, while its advertising and promotional expenses jumped almost four times to ₹411.29 crore from ₹113.41 crore a year earlier.  

During the period, the company’s miscellaneous expenses, too, jumped nearly five times to Rs 559.28 crore. The company counts educator charges, payment gateway charges, charges for graphers, content development charges among others as miscellaneous expenses. Consequently, the company’s total expenses surged to ₹2,029.9 crore on a consolidated basis. 

With the onset of the pandemic, demand for online education in India surged in 2020. Consequently, the company’s online subscriptions surged manifold during the period. The company derives revenue primarily from online learning platform through subscriptions. 

 The company spent on advertising as it was among sponsors of the Indian Premier League (IPL), while it also was a sponsor for an online web series Kota Factory. During the period, the company acquired firms like Prepladder Pvt Ltd, Ono Labs Pvt Ltd, Pilani Experts Technology Labs Pvt Ltd, US-based Graphy Inc among others. 

The rising demand for remote learning in India has led to a lot of companies in the edtech space raising funds.  Many companies in the edtech space have raised funds lately.  So far in 2021, three edtech companies have turned unicorns taking the total number of such startups boasting of a valuation of over $1 billion in the country to five.   

India’s edtech sector is expected to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of over 15% from $2.8 billion in 2020 to $30 billion in 2030, citing a BLinC Investment Management report, which also terms India as the world’s most active edtech market.