New Delhi: According to a top company official, edtech major BYJU is expected to register a three-fold growth in revenue and losses in FY22. BYJU founder and CEO Byju Raveendran, at a startup event on Friday, defended the appointment of football star Lionel Messi as its global ambassador amid job cuts at the company, saying the decision was taken six months ago.
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Addressing a gathering of entrepreneurs and investors at Tech Sparks 2022, Raveendran said the company, with over 150 million learners, is well on its way to profitability as it expects 3X revenue growth and Losses are expected to more than halve in FY22,” according to an excerpt from the event shared by Byju’s with PTI.
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BYJU had reported a loss of Rs 4,588 crore and revenue of Rs 2,428 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2021. BYJU co-founder Divya Gokulnath had announced to lay off around 2,500 people from the company as it paves the way for profitability. It employs 10,000 more teachers in March 2023 and the coming year, increasing its current strength of 20,000 teachers.
Raveendran said India deserves over 75,000 startups and he sees a potential for one lakh entrepreneurs in the country. He further said that if each of these million startups employs only 100 people, India would have 100 million new jobs.
“When pressured by the current environment around the company, Byju’s stated that 261 of the company’s 300 founding employees are still with the company and remain committed to BYJU’S mission.
“He further added that four out of five integrations, aka acquisitions, have been done seamlessly and are doing well,” the company’s note said. Aakash grew threefold since its integration with BYJU’S Is.” On hiring Messi as their global brand ambassador, he said the announcement was made just in time for the lay-off and the decision was taken six months ago.
“It is foolish to even think that one can appoint Messi in 5-7 days. The decision to have Messi on board was taken 6 months back and the announcement could not be delayed because of the World Cup window and rules. ” Messi will not be allowed to announce any brand while the World Cup is underway. It is just a coincidence that both the news, rationalization and onboarding of Messi happened simultaneously.”