Life After BYJU’S: How Great Learning Built A Profitable Future Away From The Tainted Giant

An incredibly loud whisper is echoing in India’s once-bustling edtech space: BYJU’S came, BYJU’S ruled, and BYJU’S killed. From Aakash to WhiteHat Jr to Great Learning to EPIC and dozens of other companies — the fall of BYJU’S, once valued at $22 Bn, has also reversed the trajectories of startups that had looked to bank on BYJU’S scale to grow. 

Even through the turmoil, two of these acquisitions showed resilience, not only succeeding in stepping out of the blues, but also making significant progress in going back to profits. 

Aakash Educational Services went from being owned by the Chaudhry family to BYJU’S and now to Ranjan Pai’s family office, which today holds a majority stake in the coaching giant.

On the other hand, Great Learning was unique in the sense that its three founders continued to run the business even after being acquired by BYJU’S. And Great Learning cofounder and CEO Mohan Lakhamraju believes that this has allowed his company to survive the BYJU’S disaster.

For context, BYJU’S acquired Great Learning in 2021 in a $600 Mn deal, but the CEO said that this amount was less than what BYJU’S was actually willing to offer. 

“At the time of the acquisition, we opted for $100 Mn less than what was proposed because we wanted this company to be run independently with the founders at the helm. Of course, we have seen the fate of the companies that BYJU’S acquired where the operations and workforce were integrated,” Great Learning cofounder Lakhamraju told Inc42.

 

The Inside Story: Great Learning’s Experience Under BYJU’S 

Founded by Lakhamraju, Arjun Nair, and Hari Krishnan Nair in 2013, Great Learning was acquired by BYJU’S for its upskilling platform, which targetted courses in data science and artificial intelligence in partnership with top global institutes such as IIT Bombay, Johns Hopkins University and Duke University.

This was BYJU’S first attempt to enter the tech skill development space, as the edtech giant looked to branch out beyond test prep after raising more than $1 Bn in 2021. But unlike the others which BYJU’S has either written off or shut down, Great Learning has survived attempts by BYJU’S to sell off the company.

Lakhamraju revealed that as BYJU’S was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, it wanted to sell Great Learning in 2023-24 to pay off a part of the $1.5 Bn debt being recalled by US creditors.

“Yes, Great Learning was up for sale at one point. But it didn’t materialise. BYJU’S was to pay a certain amount as a part of the deal. That wasn’t honoured either. So, we took back the equity in response to non-payment of the cash component. The equity held by Think & Learn [BYJU’S parent company] was eventually shifted to the lenders of BYJU’S,” the Great Learning CEO explained. 

Bengaluru-headquartered Great Learning is now being controlled by its three founders and BYJU’S creditors who will be on their way out once they recover the debt, as per a contract signed between them and the Great Learning founders.

Despite these challenges, the company has managed to scale up operations spread across India, the US, the UK, and the UAE with learners from over 50 countries. However, the CEO did not disclose the extent of the debt that has to be repaid by Great Learning to take the creditors off the books. 

Lakhamraju added that unlike shareholders, the creditors’ goals are aligned with the cash flow situation of Great Learning and since the company is profitable, he does not foresee any challenges in settling the debt in the near term. 

Paving The Path To Profitability 

“We have been profitable since FY24, with our net profit at $1.5 Mn (around INR 13 Cr). This is on a consolidated level with a major portion of our revenues coming from overseas geographies. Our revenues grew 23% on-year to $118 Mn (around INR 1,000 Cr) in FY24 on a consolidated basis,” the CEO said. 

The turnaround in Great Learning’s India business from INR 341 Cr loss in FY23, makes an interesting case study in the domestic edtech market, where profitable ventures are a rarity. 

The only exception was PhysicsWallah, which has also fallen into losses after a major investment spree in FY24.  

Given this reality, Great Learning’s profitability is certainly a rarity. “We have been profitable for quite some time and maintain healthy cash flow to channel growth, which is why we don’t have any immediate plans of capital raise or a public listing. The objective really is to sustain the growth, tap newer markets and if we go public in future, to sustain that profitability,” the CEO said, without going into a geography-wise breakdown of the revenue. 

What exactly changed between FY23 and FY24? 

Lakhamraju said the company banked on AI — more on this below — to become more efficient and mitigated the potentially higher workforce costs as it scaled up. The company lowered its customer acquisition costs (CAC) by leveraging AI, which served as a smart lever for topline growth

The CEO claimed that the company did not have to rely on layoffs in the past year to trim costs, and currently, it has 1,700 employees. “The upskilling space in India has also turned hugely competitive over the recent years which mandates that the companies now have to target newer markets and integrate AI to make their operations efficient,” he said. 

Upskilling, particularly in the executive education space, is a capital-intensive business model. For a venture like Great Learning, it involves deployment of funds for partnering with top-notch global universities, roping in renowned educators, and upgrading the course module at regular intervals.

“When it comes to some of the highly skilled courses in the tech domain, Great Learning has partnered with reputed global universities to offer diploma and degree level certifications. A majority of such courses cost INR 2 Lakh and above for a learner as upskilling has become crucial in today’s job market,” the Great Learning CEO said.

The platform has more than 12 Mn learners in premium courses that cover generative AI, Python programming, data science and machine learning and data analytics. Partner universities such as  Northwestern University, University of Arizona and Johns Hopkins University work with the startup to design the curriculum for these courses. 

While the edtech startup does not guarantee placements, Lakhamraju claims that executives who graduated from Great Learning’s courses received as much as a 50% hike in salary, besides a general increase in the number of job offers from corporations worldwide.

The startup’s target audience is primarily middle management executives who want to level up and unlock new growth paths within their organisation or within the broader tech industry. With GenAI disrupting traditional software operations and development cycles, more and more executives — particularly within the tech industry — are looking to fortify themselves against potential role displacement. 

Gaining The Gen AI Edge 

Through the past six months, Great Learning has been testing course modules powered by OpenAI’s APIs to offer low-priced upskilling courses to freshers and engineering graduates both in India and abroad. 

Lakhamraju said that these courses are designed to be independent of human intervention. The courses are operated by AI teachers and AI mentors – as he likes to call them – without the need for any manual workforce, which makes the course a lot more affordable. 

“The pricing of these courses starts at INR 1,500. We are trying this model out in India first and later in other countries. This is primarily because we have huge datasets available from learner behaviour in India. Introducing this in India, therefore, was a natural progression. In overseas geographies, we are pricing it higher,” the cofounder added. 

Great Learning currently sees 50% of its annual revenue coming from the US markets, but the AI-powered modules could accelerate the India revenue base as well. 

To be clear, this is not a first-of-its-kind innovation in the edtech ecosystem. Several other startups have tried out integrating with AI, Gemini and DeepSeek foundation models. Indeed, BYJU’S itself tried to create an AI platform for its test prep users. 

Great Learning, however, claims that it is adding value beyond course curriculum by bringing in doubt resolutions, mock interviews, project analysis, and real-time coding support for learners.

“India produces 1.5 Mn engineering graduates every year, which is more than any other country. We are only scratching the surface of Gen AI models and allied innovations and the new job entrants need to be made future ready to be able to use the technology as well as get upskilled. The pricing of the courses is attractive too, though we are not offering any job guarantees,” the CEO added.

Most recently, Great Learning announced that all its AI-powered programmes will come under an umbrella brand Glaide – a combination of GL (Great Learning), AI and aide. 

“Great teachers are few in number and most learners never get to experience the magic of learning from them. This is what we are trying to solve using AI. We are leveraging AI to bring that same magic of great teachers to everyone!” Lakhamraju exclaimed.

The AI integration, according to the Great Learning leadership, will set its course for the next phase of growth with the possibility of a revenue boost from a price-sensitive market like India. And that’s how the startup is carving a future for itself outside of the BYJU’S umbrella. 

Recently, we have seen some founders looking to reacquire sold startups from the new ownership as a means to reestablish businesses that have gone off the track. The most recent example is of Sirona, where the founders are looking to buy back the company from the Good Glamm Group, in a bid to break free from the crisis-hit house of brands. 

Great Learning’s journey in the past year — amid the bankruptcy proceedings at BYJU’S — is characterised by a deep and singular focus on the business, rather than the corporate governance mess at BYJU’S. 

This has allowed Great Learning to live up to its potential and compete with the likes of Eruditus, upGrad and others in this space. Not long ago, Great Learning was on the chopping block, but now, it’s broken free of those shackles, and has put the BYJU’S experience behind it.

[Edited By Kumar Chatterjee]