upGrad In FY 23 Doubles Revenue - Loss Remains The Same One of Asia's largest integrated learning, skilling & workforce development majors upGrad moved to the widely accepted IndAS accounting standard in line with its longer-term listing plans.

By Nishant Sinha

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.

While Gross Revenue came in at INR 1530 Crore - adjusted for IndAS upGrad recorded a revenue of INR 1,194 Crore for FY23, a 96% jump from the previous financial year of INR 608 Crore.

One of Asia's largest integrated learning, skilling & workforce development majors upGrad moved to the widely accepted IndAS accounting standard in line with its longer-term listing plans.

While Gross Revenue came in at INR 1530 Crore - adjusted for IndAS upGrad recorded a revenue of INR 1,194 Crore for FY23, a 96% jump from the previous financial year of INR 608 Crore. On an ARR basis, the Revenue would have been higher as some of the M&As did not consolidate for the full financial year of FY23. Due to the realignment of revenues, upGrad carried forward a further deferred collected revenue of INR 443 crore into the next year. The adjusted EBITDA loss (operating cash loss) came in at INR 558 Crore, around the same as the previous year of INR 572 Crore.

The Non-Cash expenses in FY23 included accelerated goodwill write-down of INR 410 Crore and depreciation and amortization costs of INR 140 Crore. The finance cost was INR 34 Crore, totalling other non-cash costs of INR 584 Crore. So, the EBITDA loss, the non-cash expenses and finance costs took the total PAT to a loss of INR 1142 Crore, up from INR 648 Crore in the previous financial year.

Notable changes in the large cost items showed a sharp reduction in Marketing costs to 19% (INR 371 Crore) of total costs vs the previous year's 33% (INR 403 Crore). Employee costs remained the highest contributor at 36% amounting to INR 707 Crore, which also included some non-cash costs for ESOP accounting as per Black Scholes method. Direct costs have soared 1.8x to INR 382 Crore from INR 211 Crore in the previous year as upGrad continues to invest in content development expenses, content delivery costs & university fees, commensurate with the revenue growth.

upGrad is one of the very few new economy companies that did not do material layoffs in the last 12-18 months. The overall learner base of upGrad has crossed 10 million while the paid learners have grown 54% compared to the previous year. upGrad now has a strong enterprise play, having serviced 1110 clients in FY23 and expecting to retain at least 75% of these clients in FY24. The Enterprise arm expanded its global footprint and is projecting a higher share of international revenue of 21% in FY24 compared to 10% in FY23. Delivering outcomes & placements remain at the core focus while servicing consumers and enterprise clients, having helped over 55,000 transitions into better job opportunities in just the last FY.

"We are in a very strong place as we build upGrad for the world, out of India. While we respect profitable growth, we aim to strike the right balance as we continue to be in Investment mode with a strong eye on the long term as this space of skilling, careers & job placements, formal learning & workforce development will see massive growth & disruption for the next two decades. Our gross margins are close to 80%; we have zero net debt; and have one of the best ROCE (Return on Capital Employed) ratios for a new-age company, having raised a tight $265 million since inception. We are tracking H2 of FY24 and onward to be operationally profitable on an ongoing basis and we will continue to look for organic, linear, and non-linear opportunities for growth both in Asia and around the world," said Mayank Kumar Co-founder & MD, upGrad while sharing annual accounts for the year gone by.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Business Ideas

87 Service Business Ideas to Start Today

Get started in this growing industry, with options that range from IT consulting to childcare.

News and Trends

India Witnesses a Surge in Cyberattacks, Healthcare Sector Most Targeted: Report

The increasing use of GenAI tools has further amplified these threats through disinformation campaigns, deepfake videos, and targeted phishing schemes

Business News

'Everyone Can Profit From It': What Is DeepSeek? China's 'Cheap' to Make AI Chatbot Climbs to the Top of Apple, Google U.S. App Stores

DeepSeek researchers claim it was developed for less than $6 million, a contrast to the $100 million it takes U.S. tech startups to create AI.

News and Trends

Emiza Raises INR 100 Crore in Series C Funding, Valued at INR 400 Crore

The fresh capital will be used to enhance its technological capabilities, increase automation, and establish new facilities to support its growing client base

News and Trends

Padma Awards 2025: Indian Gov Gives a Round of Applause to Tech Figureheads

While previous editions of one of the country's highest civilian Awards have largely recognised contributions to computing, semiconductors, and machine learning, this year saw AI and deep tech gain widespread acknowledgement.