- BYJU’s, the online learning platform, had its busiest three months and the revenue has doubled to Rs. 2800 crore in a year.
BYJU’s, the online learning platform, had its busiest three months. The BYJU’s added 13.5 million consumers in March and April. It was the first to reveal that its products will now be available for free to everyone shortly after the lockout, and that gave the $8-billion ed-tech giant, which was already successful, a new wave of customers, many of whom the company hopes would pay for the services in the future.
The reason Byju’s could afford free content for over 50 million subscribers is that in the year ending March 2020, co-founder Divya Gokulnath announced that BYJU’s had already doubled its revenue to around 2,800 crores ($370 million). “BYJU’s has hit the 2800 crore revenue goal. This has happened even when our consumers (students) and buyers (parents) are different, “she said in an exclusive Business Insider interview.
The startup now has 50 million users on its platform although the number of paid users is 3.5 million. But the engagement rate was a metric that had made all the difference.
Students who used to spend 70 minutes per session on the app, and return twice-three times a week, now spend 100 minutes a day. “Eighty-five percent of our students renew their courses every year. That is because parents see efficiency, “she said.
The creators, Divya and her husband Byju prepared as early as February though only on March 25 the country went into lockdown. “We both also are first teachers. We ‘re very paranoid about class quality, so Byju’s top management is all teachers taking classes on the app, “Divya said.
Byju, who is quarantined in the US, stays up to the classes all night. “Not enough. He’s available time in India, the United States, and Singapore, “she said with a laugh. Actually, according to Divya, all the top management at Byju’s are teachers taking classes on the app.
So, in the times of the pandemic, BYJU’s rolled out three new features – it started live classes, introduced new subjects such as social studies (history, civics, and geography) and also rolled out the app in multiple languages.
And this meant teams were working overtime and putting in twice the effort to roll out new features within the daytime.
“Nobody has known what it will be like. We’ve opened a lot of business avenues that we’ve predicted, just because it’s happening earlier than we thought. We are taking it one day at a time right now. We have weekly goals and split them up into regular goals, “she said.
What will be the new normal?
Divya believes that the new normal will not be 100 percent online at the helm of India’s biggest online learning app. Instead, she hopes the new standard would integrate the best of online learning into a school curriculum. She said BYJU’s is at that sweet spot, where the learning on the app is all they would need once a child returns from school.
“School is vital to a child’s healthy growth. Every crisis presents an opportunity, and this is that point of inflection for education, where we expect a blended educational model to rise, “she said.
But here’s what broke online learning that there are no backbenchers anymore. “Lockdown has allowed online learning to adapt to online learning whether it’s students, teachers, or parents. The idea of backbenchers is gone. Every student now has a front-row seat in the class. And this is an opportunity for students to accept self-learning, “she said.
This excerpt is taken from an interview of Divya Gokulnath with Business Insider. You can find the whole interview here.
