Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd, the company that operates edtech platform Byju’s, posted a wider loss for the financial year through March 2022 despite higher revenue as some of the companies that it acquired pushed it deeper into the red.
The company’s consolidated loss for 2021-22 expanded to Rs 8,245 crore (around $1.1 billion at the prevailing exchange rates) from a net loss of Rs 4,564 crore the year before, as per an audited statement reviewed by VCCircle.
The company’s consolidated revenue more than doubled to Rs 5,015 crore in FY22 from Rs 2,280 crore the year before. This means that Byju’s remained the largest Indian edtech company in FY22 in terms of revenue, followed by Eruditus with revenue of Rs 1,962 crore and Unacademy with Rs 719 crore.
To be sure, Byju’s, which has already delayed the filing of its financial results for FY22 with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) by nearly one and a half years, is yet to upload the results on the official portal. It is also yet to file the FY23 results with the RoC.
The company’s revenue includes income from its flagship platform Byju’s, coaching centre chain Aakash Institute as well as several other subsidiaries, including WhiteHat Jr., Epic, Great Learning and Toppr, among others.
In FY22, Byju’s raked in nearly Rs 2,900 crore in revenue by selling its flagship product – video lectures recorded on SD cards and tablets. This constituted more than 50% of its total income in the fiscal year.
Next in the line was Aakash Institue, which helped the topline increase by nearly Rs 1,491 crore in FY22. Byju’s acquired Aakash at the beginning of FY22 in a $1 billion deal. Aakash posted revenue of Rs 1,065 crore in FY21.
Meanwhile, another of its acquired companies, upskilling platform Great Learning, posted a 1.8x rise in its revenue to Rs 628 crore in the financial year 2021-22 as compared to the previous year.
Coming to the forces that dragged down Byju’s overall performance in FY22, WhiteHat Jr recorded around 10% decline in its revenue to Rs 295 crore from Rs 326 in the year before. Its loss before taxes, however, grew nearly 1.6x in FY22 to Rs 2,358 crore from the year before.
Similarly, Osmo saw its revenue decline around 8% to Rs 553 crore in 2021-22 from Rs 600 crore in FY21. The loss of the unit surged more than four-fold to Rs 852 crore from Rs 191 crore in the year before.
“Our subscriber base has grown 125% in the year from FY21. While we are happy that our total income has grown 2.2X, we are also aware of our underperforming businesses like Whitehat Jr and OSMO, which contribute to 45% of the losses,” said Nitin Golani, India chief financial officer of Byju’s.
“We have taken various measures to improve our operating financial conditions. These businesses were scaled down significantly to cut losses in the subsequent years while other businesses continue to see growth," said Golani.
Meanwhile, Byju’s pointed out that a ‘material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on company’s ability to continue as a going concern.’ The uncertainty arises from the continuing net losses from operations and accumulated losses as well as due to the financial impact of the $1.2 billion Term loan B as well as the litigation associated with it.
Byju’s was recently valued around $1 billion by its investor Blackrock, down from around $22 billion in its glory days.
The company is reportedly considering raising fresh capital at a valuation of $2 billion to pay vendors and stabilise the business.
