After a delay of about 22 months, troubled edtech firm, Byju’s on Tuesday filed its consolidated FY22 earnings with the Registrar of Companies, reporting widening of losses by 80% to Rs 8,245 crore. In FY21, the company’s losses stood at Rs 4,588 crore.
Total revenues during the year was up 118% to Rs 5,298 crore. In FY21, the same stood at Rs 2,428 crore. In November 2023, the company had said that its standalone revenue from core business rose to Rs 3,569 crore, while it recorded an Ebitda loss of Rs 2,253 crore.
Around 45% of the losses in FY22 – around Rs 3,800 crore – came from under performing assets like Whitehat Jr and Osmo, which were acquisitions made by Byju’s.
Whitehat Jr, a startup which focusses on online coding classes for kids, posted a loss before tax of Rs 2,877 crore compared to Rs 1,549 crore in the previous fiscal. The Ebitda loss for the year was Rs 2,358 crore while the total income dropped 0.9x times from Rs 326.67 crore to Rs 295.11 crore in FY22.
Byju’s had acquired the platform in 2020 for $300 million. The other subsidiary—Tangible Play (Osmo) –followed a similar trajectory and reported 58% jump in losses before tax at Rs 946 crore. The total income was down by 7.8% at Rs 553 crore in FY22.
Acquired back in 2019 in a deal worth $120 million, the US-based startup develops apps for kids that use offline input. The Ebitda loss stood at Rs 852 crore, up by 346%.
However, acquisitions like Aakash Education Services and Great Learning performed well, reporting an income growth of 40% and 70%, respectively, post deal in 2021.
Byju’s earned a total income of Rs 1,491 crore from Aakash while Great Learning contributed Rs 628 crore in FY22. Excluding WHJ and Osmo, Byju’s clocked 3x growth in its total income in FY22 at Rs 4,450 crore.
“While we are happy that our total income has grown 2.2x, we are also aware of our under performing businesses like Whitehat Jr and Osmo which contribute to 45% of the losses. 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,” chief financial officer, Nitin Golani, said in a statement.
Byju’s auditor BDO has made an observation that a material uncertainty exists due to its large losses and a $1.2 billion term loan may cast significant doubt on the group’s ability to continue as a going concern.
“However, as further explained in the note, the management has undertaken various measures to improve its operating financial condition, is also in the process of securing necessary funding arrangements and exploring sale of assets as needed, and hence is confident regarding the future viability of the Group,” the auditor has noted, adding, “Further, basis a legal opinion, the management is of the view that it is unlikely that the TLB loan will be required to be paid in the foreseeable future. Accordingly, these financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2022 have been prepared on a going concern basis”.