Edtech unicorn Unacademy inching towards profitability, aims to break-even in January 2023

Edtech unicorn Unacademy is inching towards profitability, Moneycontrol reported on Monday. The Bengaluru-headquartered firm has slashed its monthly burn rate to Rs 50-Rs 60 crore from more than Rs 200 crore, the report said citing sources. 

“Massive efficiencies overall and this has happened without having any impact on revenue. Overall group revenue is already up a little more than 10 percent for CY22 (the calendar year 2022), and the company expects its revenue to grow 15 percent by the end of this year (calendar year). Growth has slowed compared to last year, but there’s growth still for the company,” the report quoted sources as saying.

The company is expected to break even in January 2023, and this has been confirmed by co-founder and CEO, Gaurav Munjal.

Munjal has been taking steps to cut down expenses. In a note to employees, he recently said that the company was going to take measures to slash the expenses including eliminating complimentary meals for employees, no business class travel for anyone and even removing dedicated drivers for its top executives, indicating the online education platform’s need to put profitability above everything else.

According to the company regulatory filings, Unacademy clocked over Rs 400 crore in revenues in FY21. This number is expected to go up to Rs 700 crore for FY22, according to Moneycontrol’s projections. 

Moreover, the last few months have witnessed start-up co-founders becoming increasingly conscious about putting profitability over growth. Several reports suggest that funding within the start-up has dried up and investors are exercising control when it comes to infusing money into start-ups. One example to look at is Masayoshi Son’s Tokyo-based company, SoftBank which is known for its investments in tech companies.

During the last quarter, SoftBank marked down 284 companies in its portfolio. It has invested in iconic start-ups including the likes of Ola, Uber, WeWork, Zomato, Didi Chuxing, and more.

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