BackByju’s losses jump 30 times; device sales boost revenue
Byju’s, operated by Bengaluru-based Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd, had ₹2,380 crore income in FY20, as compared to ₹1,305 crore in the previous year.
PremiumDevice sales fetched the highest revenues for Byju’s in 2019-20, regulatory filings showed, even as losses at the edtech giant swelled nearly 30 times.
The company, which recently became the most valued startup in India, witnessed around 80% growth in consolidated net sales in FY20 as compared to the previous year.
Byju’s, operated by Bengaluru-based Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd, had ₹2,380 crore income in FY20, as compared to ₹1,305 crore in the previous year.
Even though the company continues to maintain a steady momentum in topline growth, consolidated losses widened to ₹262 crore in FY20 from ₹8.82 crore in FY19.
The company, which got some of the biggest cheques this year from institutional investors, utilized a considerable part of the funding in expenses, particularly on the advertorial front.
However, the expenditure couldn’t deliver the expected income for the edtech major. The company saw its annual expenses jump by 119.50% to around ₹3,022 crore during FY20.
Also, the sale of devices edged out reference books, possibly the biggest sales churner for the company.
Sales of tablets and SD cards, usually sold to students as part of the package, accounted for 63% of the business in FY20, compared to 55% in the previous year.
Interestingly, the edtech giant had to spend ₹277 crore for the devices it offered to students in the fiscal year and earned ₹1,334 crore.
Byju’s valuation has skyrocketed since last year, as the pandemic has fuelled an online learning boom with parents enrolling kids in online classes.
Byju’s has more than 65 million subscribers, but the edtech startup has seen faster growth over the past year, with at least 25 million new users signing up to use its platform after the covid-induced nationwide lockdown was announced last year in March.
In a bid to make it a one-stop platform for educational requirements, the company has struck some of the largest acquisitions, including test preparation firm Aakash Educational Services as well as WhiteHat Jr, Great Learning and Toppr.
In June this year, Byju’s raised $1.5 billion from UBS Group, Abu Dhabi sovereign fund ADQ, Blackstone Group, among others, at a valuation of $16.5 billion.
In April, Byju’s had raised more than $1 billion from investors led by Baron Funds, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group and US-based investment hedge fund XN Exponent Holding.
The fundraising valued the company at around $15 billion.
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