Adda247, an online educational platform claims to provide preprational content for a vast range of exams, ranging from national and state-level government sectors to K-12 education and UPSC civil services, among others. What sets them apart is their emphasis on providing free educational content through their app, websites and YouTube channels, Anil Nagar, Adda247, founder, CEO, told FE Education. “This approach has resulted in remarkable organic user acquisition, with a monthly user base of 50 million and a staggering 2.5 million paid students,” he added. The company aims to double its revenue to Rs 350 crore in FY25. “We aim to become profitable by the next financial year with a strategic focus on sustainable growth,” Nagar noted.
The ed-tech platform net loss widened 9.5x to Rs 157.8 crore in FY22 from just Rs 15.1 crore in FY21, according to regulatory filings accessed by business intelligence platform, Tofler. The company’s revenue from operation rose 68% to Rs 61.5 crore in FY22 from Rs 36.5 crore in FY21. However, Nagar claimed that in the past seven years, the ed-tech platform has consistently demonstrated profitability and doubled its revenue annually. Nagar claimed that the losses incurred by the company is a case of ‘accounting loss’. “That figure likely represents an accounting loss, mainly due to how funding is accounted for as debt in India. Operationally, we haven’t incurred losses exceeding Rs 1-1.5 crore in any year during our journey,” he said.
According to the company, it posted an increase in the significant number of students purchasing multiple courses, thereby accounting for 40% of its monthly revenue. It further claims to provide courses for nearly 500 exams, in multiple languages.“Our primary revenue sources are live courses, with an average fee of around Rs 2,000 and flexible course durations ranging from three months to a year. Our cost of customer acquisition is zero currently due to the effectiveness of organic growth, driven by informative content across various platforms,” he explained.
Adda247 further claims that the creation of content involves multiple steps including research of past and current trends, difficulty levels, among others. According to the ed-tech firm it currently has 500 professionals creating content. “We stand out by focusing on tier-2 and tier-3 cities besides rural areas, thereby making education affordable and accessible. Moreover, we offer courses in local languages, as part of our inclusivity approach,” he said. Aligned with the trend of gamification in education, the platform claims to incentivise students with rewards in the form of coins for engaging in various educational activities.