Byjus’ CEO targets entry into unicorn club; aims to turn profitable in FY18

Online learning startup Byjus’ expects to break even and turn profitable in the fiscal year 2017-18, just two years after it launched its popular learning app in August 2015.

Byjus’ turned profitable in the quarter ending March, recording a revenue growth of 150 percent to Rs 260 crore, compared to Rs 115 crore in the same month last year.

Founder Byju Raveendran in an interaction with Moneycontrol claimed that the company may also join the unicorn club soon.

“We are growing at an exceptional rate. We have also cut down our losses. You will soon see a unicorn company in Byjus’. We are excited because there is a huge addressable market left for us to explore. We have cracked just 1 percent of the potential market,” Raveendran added at an event where Byjus’ launched a separate app for parents called 'Parent Connect' to monitor a child’s progress.

The startup provides a K-12 learning app which offers learning programs for students in classes 4-12 and those preparing for competitive exams such as IIT-JEE, CAT, IAS, GRE and GMAT.

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The company now plans to go vernacular and is already working on a Hindi app. “We will add other languages soon,” Raveendran said. The purpose of adding languages to the Byjus' platform is also to go international. The startup is exploring international markets in South Asia, besides the Middle East, especially Dubai.

Byjus’ has also identified three companies in the South Asia market for acquisition, the company said.

“We will look at some interesting product companies which cater to students studying in Class 4-12,” Raveendran said.

The company started as an offline tutoring startup five years ago but launched the current form of online teaching only in 2015.

Currently, the online medium accounts for over 90 percent of its revenue.

Byjus’ has been a favourite of the investor community, making it the highest funded startup in the Indian ed-tech space.

Its method of teaching of complex subjects through diagrams and visuals has led investors including Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, IFC and Innoven Capital to back the company with over USD 200 million in last four years.

The startup has also added enhanced capabilities of analytics that will monitor the complete learning path of a student.

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It will help the app create tailor-made lessons for students, identifying and bridging the loose ends in a learning curve.

The parent app will be a separate product from the learning app. To date, Byjus’ has had over 8 million downloads and over 400,000 paid students on board.

The company estimates that targeting the parents of existing users alone will give at least 8 million more app downloads.

The company is also working on an internal project to incorporate advanced technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality in its learning videos.

“We are working on various cases for below sixth standard students, for high school students and exploring immersive experiences that work for each bracket,” Ranjit Radhakrishnan, Chief Product Officer of Byjus’ told Moneycontrol.

durba.ghosh@nw18.com