Byju's hits revenue milestone, claims to have turned profitable

Byju’s posted revenue of more than Rs 100 crore last month, prompting the ed-tech firm to revise its annual revenue guidance to Rs 1,400 crore, founder and chief executive Byju Raveendran said on Wednesday.

While run rate does not translate to the actual revenue of a company, it helps project future earnings.

A company statement also said that Byju’s had turned profitable without mentioning specific numbers.

Run by Bengaluru-based Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd, Byju's is the most well-funded ed-tech startup in India, having raised more than $200 million in external funding till date.

The company runs learning apps for school students and produces all its content in-house. It has been consistently recording more than 20% month-on-month growth in revenue, the statement added.

"The launch of the personalised version of our app last year further helped us boost engagement and enhanced the learning experience for our students,” Raveendran said.

The Byju’s app has more than 20 million downloads and 1.26 million paid subscribers. Raveendran said that it adds more than 1.5 million students every month to its overall customer base. 

In an interview with TechCircle earlier this year, Raveendran had said that Byju's was eyeing Rs 1,200 crore in revenue in 2018-19. He had said the company might break even in 2017-18 after recording a loss of Rs 59 crore in the previous fiscal.

He further said that the company might close with revenue of Rs 510-540 crore in 2017-18.

Byju's posted revenue of Rs 45 crore in 2014-15, Rs 110 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 240 crore in 2016-17. 

"We are doubling revenue every year since our app was launched in 2015," Raveendran had said in the interview.

The firm is backed by investors such as Tencent, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg), Belgian family office Verlinvest and the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation.

Initially, the app was for students studying in classes 6-12, but later on it launched the content for students in classes 4 and 5 last year, helping them further accelerate their growth. It now plans to launch an app for students in class 1-3 by end of this year.

Byju's also has plans to expand overseas starting with English-speaking territories. It has been scouting for distribution partners in markets like the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore among others.