Cuemath’s topline jumps 2X to Rs 24 Cr; manages to shrink losses in FY20

Mathematics focussed learning platform Cuemath has managed to double its scale of operations in the last fiscal year claiming to teach more than forty thousand students via its teacher network.

On a similar trajectory, Cuemath’s revenue from operations has surged 2.04X to Rs 24.43 crore during the fiscal ended in March 2020 from nearly Rs 12 crore during FY19.

In April 2019, the company revised its agreements with the teachers on its platform and shifted to a franchise-based model where Cuemath would provide the services of fee collection, education material and customer acquisition to the teachers and charge a fee for the same in place of a revenue-sharing model it was following previously.

The edtech platform generated 86% of its operating revenue through the said franchise fee charged from teachers and the remaining 14% was collected from the sale of educational material.

While the collections have doubled during the previous fiscal, Cuemath’s overall costs have witnessed only a marginal uptick as the company benefited from its minimal capex model.

Total expenditure during FY20 amounted to Rs 83.8 crore, increased by only 15.8% as compared to Rs 72.4 crore it spent during FY19. Cuemath spent Rs 3.96 to earn a single rupee of operating revenue, improving by 34.3% as compared to Rs 6.04  it spent to earn the same during FY19.

Looking over the expense sheet, we see employee benefits expenses stood out as the single biggest cost centre for the Bengaluru-based company, making up 46.2% of the total costs. 

These expenses grew by 3.84% to Rs 38.7 crore in FY20. Second in line were the advertisement and marketing costs which increased by nearly 22% to Rs 19.4 crore during FY20 from Rs 15.93 crore in FY19.

Further, the company spent an aggregate Rs 12.6 crore on expenditure including IT, communication and printing costs which grew by 20% as compared to Rs 9.7 crore spent during FY19.

With increased collections and somewhat stable rate of cashburn, Cuemath has reduced its net cash outflow from operations by 2.5% to Rs 36.3 crore during FY20. Annual losses have also dropped by 1.8% to Rs 55.34 crore during the fiscal ended in March 2020 and EBITDA margins have improved from -330.86% in FY19 to -178.61 during FY20.

Cuemath has leveraged its online live classes to ride the COVID 19 wave and has shifted from its hybrid model of live online classes along with physical learning centres to only online teaching.

The company had raised $40 million in its Series C round co-led by Lightstone Fund and Falcon Edge in December last year as it looks forward to scaling up its operations and reaching a wider audience base.