Vedantu, a leading edtech company based in Bengaluru, has released its financial results for the fiscal year ending March 2023. Despite facing challenges in scaling, the company successfully managed to reduce its losses by 46%, even as revenue experienced a slight decline.
Vedantu’s revenue from operations fell by 7.8% to Rs 153 crore in FY23 from Rs 166 crore in FY22, as per its consolidated financial statements accessed from the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The company’s primary income source, online tutoring of various courses, contributed 94% of the total operating revenue, which decreased by 13.3% to Rs 144 crore in FY23. Additional revenue came from the sale of books, hostel fees, and e-learning project income.
In FY23, Vedantu also generated Rs 22 crore from interest and gains on financial assets, bringing its total income to Rs 175 crore.
Employee benefits emerged as the largest cost center for Vedantu, forming 56.7% of its total expenditure. These costs declined by 35.8% to Rs 314 crore in FY23. Expenditures on legal, advertising, promotional activities, training, information technology, and other overheads contributed to the overall expenditure of Rs 553 crore, down from Rs 888 crore in FY22.
Despite the revenue decline, Vedantu’s efforts to control advertising and employee benefit expenses resulted in a significant reduction in losses. The company’s losses decreased by 46.4% to Rs 373 crore in FY23, compared to Rs 696 crore in FY22. Its return on capital employed (ROCE) and EBITDA margins stood at -68% and -198.9%, respectively. On a unit level, Vedantu spent Rs 3.61 to earn a rupee in FY23.
As of March 2023, Vedantu held net current assets of Rs 299 crore, including cash and bank balances of Rs 39 crore. Fintrackr’s estimates place the company’s enterprise value to revenue multiple at 50X.
Vedantu has not secured new funding since its $100 million Series E round in September 2021, which elevated it to unicorn status. In 2022, the company faced multiple rounds of layoffs, impacting over 1,000 employees. During the 2021-22 period, Vedantu acquired Deeksha, Pedagogy, and Instasolv, with the Deeksha acquisition alone costing approximately $40 million. In December, Vedantu announced plans to open over 30 offline centers for JEE and NEET across multiple cities.
Among edutech unicorns, Byju’s led with Rs 5,015 crore in revenue for FY22 but has yet to report FY23 numbers. Eruditus and upGrad reported revenues of Rs 3,343 crore and Rs 1,194 crore, respectively, in FY23. Unacademy also joined the Rs 1,000 crore revenue club in FY23, significantly improving its bottom line.
