Ei’s slow and steady approach to edtech success

Earlier this month, Byju’s—India’s most valuable edtech—released its results for the year ended March 2022. Despite its financials being delayed by a year, Byju’s only shared the numbers for its core business, excluding the various, expensive purchases the company had made up to that point. In 2021 alone, Byju’s spent around $2.4 billion on acquisitions.

While Byju’s saw its core business grow 2.3X and operating losses fall by 6% in the year ended March 2022, its bottom line is anything but pretty. All told, Byju’s clocked an operating loss of Rs 2,253 crore on revenues of Rs 3,569 crore.

The Bengaluru-based startup’s fall from grace—going from poster child to near-pariah over the past year—is an extreme case. However, Byju’s does exemplify the growth-at-all-costs mentality that became a widespread phenomenon in edtech as funding flooded into the sector after Covid-19 shuttered schools in the country.