LEAD, a provider of digital learning solutions, has achieved revenue growth of more than 28% for the fiscal year ended March 2024, surpassing Rs 350 crore. The company's financial condition has significantly improved, with losses reduced by more than 55% during the same period.
LEAD's operational revenue increased by 28.6% to Rs 351 crore in the previous fiscal year, up from Rs 273 crore in FY23, according to its annual financial documents obtained from the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
The Mumbai-based company offers a wide range of educational resources to schools, such as books, workbooks, curricula, smart courses, teacher training, teacher manuals, ERPs, and Math-Science kits. According to its website, LEAD collaborates with over 8,000 schools and operates in over 400 cities.
Revenue from product sales accounted for 79% of overall operating revenue, growing 35% to Rs 276 crore in FY24. The remaining revenue came from platform services, which generated Rs 75 crore throughout the period.
LEAD also generated Rs 19 crore from non-operational activities, increasing its total revenue to Rs 370 crore in the previous fiscal year.
Unlike other edtech companies, LEAD claimed a 39% year-on-year decrease in employee benefit costs, which dropped to Rs 174 crore in FY24. Despite the drop, this was still the company's highest expense, accounting for 34 percent of overall expenditure.
In the previous fiscal year, product costs totaled Rs 126 crore, while the corporation slashed spending on advertising, legal, and donations. These initiatives amounted to a 17% year-on-year reduction in total expenses, which fell to Rs 513 crore in fiscal year 24.
The 28.6% increase in scale and managed spending on staff perks assisted Lead in reducing its losses by 55.6% to Rs 143 crore in FY24. Its ROCE and EBITDA margins were -46.9% and -15.68% respectively. It spent Rs 1.46 to earn one rupee in the previous fiscal year. As of FY24, Lead's current assets totaled Rs 432 crore, with cash and bank holdings of Rs 86 crore.
LEAD just revealed that its EBITDA reached positive in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (Q1 FY25). To far, it has raised more than $180 million, including a $100 million fundraising round led by WestBridge Capital in 2022, when the company achieved unicorn status.
According to startup data analytics portal TheKredible, WestBridge Capital is the largest external stakeholder, holding 27.58%, followed by Elevar Equity. Sumeet Mehta and Smita Deorah, the firm's co-founders, collectively control 32.7 percent of the company.
