upGrad's revenue rises to Rs 692 cr in FY22, losses widen to Rs 627 cr

The total expenses of the edtech unicorn for the fiscal were reported as Rs 1,319 crore in FY22, a jump of 157 per cent from Rs 514 crore last year

Edtech unicorn upGrad Education Private Limited reported its consolidated revenues for the financial year 2021-22 as Rs 692 crore, a 111 per cent increase from Rs 328 crore last financial year. The company’s consolidated net loss widened almost three times to Rs 627 crore during the same fiscal compared to Rs 211.1 crore last year, according to data accessed by business intelligence platform, Tofler.

The company’s losses mainly grew due to a significant rise in expenses during FY22. The total expenses for the fiscal were reported as Rs 1,319 crore in FY22, a jump of 157 per cent from Rs 514 crore last year.

The biggest expense for the edtech firm was advertising and promotional expenses, for which the company spent Rs 393 crore in FY22,  almost double of Rs 205 crore it spent in FY21. Total employee benefits expense was Rs 278.5 crore in FY22 compared to Rs 157 crore last year. 

upGrad competes with players such as Simplilearn, Coursera, 2U, edX, Chegg, Skillsoft and Byju’s. It is implementing M&As (mergers and acquisitions) strategy, where it is in negotiations to acquire various companies in markets such as the US and Southeast Asia. This year upGrad acquired companies such as Centum, Exampur, Harappa Education, Insofe and Work Better.

The firm recently raised funding of $210 million from marquee investors and family offices. These include Bodhi Tree (a JV of James Murdoch & Uday Shankar), the family office of Bharti Airtel, Narotam Sekhsaria family office (Ambuja Cements and ACC), and Artian Investments (family office of Lakshmi Mittal - ArcelorMittal). According to sources, the funding has helped the firm double its valuation to $2.25 billion.