AdmitKard, a venture capitalist funded edtech platform claims to mentor students to understand and learn the process of filing applications to be able to seek admission in international colleges . As per data shared by Central Board of School Examination (CBSE) of the 16.60 lakh students who appeared for grade 12th exams, the overall pass percentage stood at 87.7%. . Only 27% of these students made it to higher education , due to unavailability of seats in good institutions.. So, we want to fill this demand and supply gap by bringing international universities to Indian students, Rachit Agarwal, co-founder, AdmitKard. “In India, around one crore students pass 12th grade every year. During the last financial year, almost 2,000 students found an admission through our platform and this year, this has increased to approximately 5,000,” he noted.
The company aims to generate net revenue of Rs 25- 50 core by the end of FY25. According to Agarwal a lot of international universities are coming with good opportunities and students’ willingness to study abroad has seen a significant rise in recent years. “We have collaborated with more than 500 universities across almost 10 countries,” he claimed.
The platform’s net loss widened 2x to Rs 7.93 crore in FY22 from Rs 2.7 crore in FY21. The company’s revenue from operations grew 3.5x to Rs 3.75 in FY22 from just Rs 70.6 lakh in FY21, according to regulatory filings accessed by the business intelligence platform Tofler. “FY21 was tough for us when the national borders were shut and students couldn’t fly. This led to the decrease in revenue. In the past two financial years, our performance has been quite impressive. In the last fiscal year, from the standpoint of income and losses , we have recovered a lot and are nearly at breakeven. Moreover, in the preceding fiscal year – FY22, for every rupee we earned, we speny almost 50%, which translated to Rs 1.5 spent for every rupee earned. Consequently, we incurred significant losses in that financial year,” Agarwal said.
Interestingly, for companies involved in the sutdy aborad model, typically revenue is recorded post a visa is issued essentially securing its income. “Subsequently, the university pays us upon the student’s arrival, with a 60-day refund window post-admission. Thus, revenue from students travelling between January and March is received in the next financial year. About 50% of our yearly revenue isn’t realised until the following year, explaining why 2022’s financial losses reflect in 2021,” he explained
Furthermore, the company claims to have two source of income .The first one being from students subscription and secondly it claims to get paid by unviersity on the basis of admission of per student “Students account for for 10-15% of the the total revenue while remaining 85% come from universities,” Agarwal, said.
Furthermore, the company claims to provide assistance to students from the very start to end and have monthly paid subscriptions around 250 to 300 of students. “We help students in their financial decisions, such as taking an education loan or managing their finances for education, then helping them with student visas and accommodation,” he said.
Platform claims to charge an average fee of Rs 20,000-25,000 for postgraduate level. As for undergraduate level it claims to charge anywhere between Rs 40,000-50,000. Typically the duration of these subscriptions varies between nine-12 months. “Our model is similar to freemium. Motivated students can use our platform for the entire journey without any charges. We provide free mentorship on the platform, and if you complete your profile and upload your documents, recommendations come automatically. We only charge when you require human guidance, such as help with SOPs, essays, CV creation, or customised profile building with mentorship from international students, he explained.
The company claims Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, remains the top three countries of preference. Australia which has earlier closed due to the pandemic is now open and there is a surge in Australian applications. “Consequently, these four countries are likely to be the top choices this year. Australia and Canada stand out because it offers excellent pathway programs for students to integrate into their economies. Also these countries provide post-study work permits which can lead to permanent residency. The same applies to Canada and the UK, where the UK introduced a post-study work permit in late 2019,” he said.