In a bid increase its penetration in the rural areas, education technology player, Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, which owns the brand Byju's, is now planning to launch its learning app in key regional languages, including Gujarati, Tamil and Marathi.
The app, which has over 30 million downloads, is currently available in English and Hindi for users in the academic segment of class 4 to 12. The app has over 2 million paid subscriptions for Maths and Science.
"Currently we offer content in English and Hindi. We are planning to roll out the content in major regional languages such as Gujarati, Tamil and Marathi. This will happen over the next four months," Mrinal Mohit, Chief Operating Officer, Byju's, told
The company is also in the process of setting up 'Student Connect Centres' across key urban centres to spread awareness about its app among parents in the surrounding areas. Announcing the first set of such centres in Gujarat in the three cities of Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Surat, Mohit said with over 15 lakh students, Gujarat is one of the fastest growing regions for Byju's.
Students have an average engagement of 64 minutes daily on Byju's, "which is more than what they spend on Facebook," he said.
The company is also looking to expand its wings to overseas markets, including the US. "We are working on the content for it," he added.
Started by Byju Raveendran in 2015, the company has a 1,400-strong team of content and product developers, mostly from IITs. It has so far raised $700 million from a variety of investors.
The company's revenues grew from Rs 260 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 520 crore in 2017-18 and is expected to touch Rs 1,400 crore for the year 2018-19. "We have achieved operating profits and we continue to grow exponentially as we see more conversions for our paid services. Our cost of customer acquisition is minimal, hence our net profit margin is high. Most of the cost goes into one-time product development," added Mohit.
Byju's gets about 95 per cent of its business from users in the grade 4-12 categories, while the other important segment is competitive exams, where it offers an engaging and effective learning experience with personalised learning.