Unacademy’s FY23 Loss Falls 41% To INR 1,678 Cr, Posts INR 907 Cr Revenue

Gaurav Munjal-led Unacademy narrowed its consolidated net loss by almost 40% in the financial year ended March 31, 2023 on the back of a sharp reduction in costs. The Peak XV Partners-backed edtech startup reduced its loss to INR 1,678.1 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 2,847.9 Cr in the previous fiscal. 

Founded in 2015 by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, and Hemesh Singh, Unacademy currently claims to have a network of 91K registered educators (teachers) and over 99 Mn learners. It caters to students in over 14 Indian languages across cities. Besides Unacademy, the group counts Graphy, UnacademyX, NextLevel, and Prepladder among its subsidiaries. 

Its operating revenue rose 26% to INR 907 Cr in FY23 from INR 719.2 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Unacademy generates revenue from course subscription fees it collects from students.

The startup’s total income, including other income, rose 23.6% year-on-year (YoY) to INR 1,044.3 Cr during the year under review. 

Where Did Unacademy Spend?

Total expenditure of the startup, valued at $3.4 Bn, declined 26% to INR 2,734.2 Cr during the year under review from INR 3,702.8 Cr in FY22.

Advertising Expenses: The biggest relief was a decline in ad expenses, which declined 33% to INR 370.2 Cr in FY23 from INR 548.7 Cr spent in FY22.

Educator Charges: The startup also brought down the payment to educators by 31% to INR 564.2 Cr in FY23 from INR 814.2 Cr in FY22. 

Employee Benefit Expenses: Employee costs dropped 28% to INR 1,281.2 Cr in FY23 from INR 1,771.6 Cr during the previous fiscal year. The decline in the metric could be directly attributed to the multiple rounds of layoffs undertaken by the Munjal-led startup. 

Turnaround On The Cards For Unacademy? 

Last month, Munjal took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce that the startup slashed its cash burn by 60% in 2023. He added that the startup had a cash runaway of four months. 

Ahead of its eighth anniversary, Munjal acknowledged that the startup’s online business registered a degrowth of 30% in 2023. He said that the edtech giant’s EBITDA improved by 87% and its offline business, Unacademy Centres, saw its learners grow to 32,000 in 2023 from 6,000 in 2022. He also said that the startup’s Graphy vertical was on the verge of achieving profitability.

However, these developments came after two tough years for the edtech giant. The startup has laid off over 2,000 employees since the beginning of 2022 to cut its costs. Besides, the startup has also undertaken pay cuts for higher management. 

In addition, the startup saw many senior-level exits last year. The following are some of the top-level executives who quit: 

• Arnab Dutta – Senior Vice President Strategy
• Vivek Sinha – Chief Operating Officer
• Abhyudaya Singh Rana – Chief of Staff, Chief of Compliance Officer
• Subramanian Ramachandran – Chief Financial Officer
• Siddharth Manchanda – General Counsel
• Tina Balachandran – Senior Vice President, Talent and Culture
• Sachin Aggarwal – Head Franchisee Business (Offline Centres)
• Karan Shroff – Partner & Chief Operating Officer
• Ashish Arora – Senior Vice President & National Head Academics

Last month, Unacademy said it would stop putting non-performing employees on performance improvement plans (PIPs) and would not provide a direct exit to such employees. The startup has raised over $800 Mn till date and counts the likes of Temasek, Elevation Capital, Tiger Global, and SoftBank among its backers. 

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