Edtech unicorn Vedantu's loss widens four times in FY21 as employee expenses soar

From L to R Anand Prakash Pulkit Jain and Vamsi Krishna- Vedantu founders

Tiger Global-backed edtech unicorn Vedantu's net loss widened fourfold in 2020-21 (FY21) despite revenue surging nearly three times as employee costs soared.

Vedantu reported a consolidated net loss of  Rs 604.3 crore for FY21, against Rs 150.1 crore in 2019-20 (FY20), the company's filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) showed.

Consolidated revenue, however, rose to nearly Rs 135 crore for FY21, thanks to a jump in demand for remote learning due to lockdowns during the year.

The edtech company, which got valued at over a billion dollars in September last year, reported a fourfold increase in expenses to Rs 744 crore for FY21 from Rs 186 crore a year earlier, as its employee benefit expenses rose to Rs 408 crore in FY21 from Rs 88 crore in FY20.

Vedantu joins other edtech unicorns such as upGrad, Eruditus and Unacademy to report a sharp rise in revenues for FY21 due to the unprecedented pick-up in demand for technology-based education solutions. However, these companies have reported widening losses for the year as their employee benefit costs and marketing expenses have gone up.