BYJU’S says four out of five acquisitions to break even by next quarter

Edtech major BYJU'S says four of its five major acquisitions will break even in the quarter ending March 2023, even as the startup figures out the go-to-market strategy for children's coding platform WhiteHat Jr. BYJU’S acquired WhiteHat Jr for $300 million in 2020. 

“Of the main five big integrations, we are struggling for one, which is WhiteHat Jr. We haven’t solved for a go-to-market for WhiteHat Jr, so people think all our acquisitions have failed. Ask any investor, four of five is great. Aakash’s success alone will justify even if we make five more mistakes while integrating,” said Byju Raveendran, CEO of BYJU’S.

Speaking at TechSparks 2022, he added that Aakaash had scaled 3X since its acquisition in 2021 for $950 million, reportedly. There have been reports stating that BYJU’S was planning to float an IPO for Aakash separately, valuing the entity at Rs 8,000 crore.

“Pre-acquisition, Aakash’s revenues were at Rs 1,000 crore. In two years, it has grown to Rs 3,000 crore,” said Byju Raveendran.

He added that Great Learning was growing at the rate of 100% year on year while its US bets, Osmo and EPIC, were growing at 30-40% year on year on an average. 

“We have not yet figured out how to acquire users efficiently in the US. We have not yet found cricket and Bollywood equivalents there, which are the biggest religions in India. If the macro environment had continued  for 18 more months, we would have. Now we are taking a measured approach on how to figure that out for WhiteHat Jr,” he said.

Byju said 60% of BYJU’S businesses were growing at 50% year on year in revenue terms.The Founder and CEO predicted that the company’s annual results for FY22, ended March 31, 2022 would likely show 3X growth in revenues, halving its losses. 

The startup had delayed filing its FY21 results due to difference in accounting practices with its auditors. 

“Our acquisitions help create value for students by giving them a choice to learn from multiple resources,” said Divya Gokulnath, Co-founder and Director of BYJU’S.