CollegeDekho, a higher education services and college admission platform, announced a 32% year-on-year revenue increase for the fiscal year ending March 2024. Despite this increase, the company reported a net loss of Rs 129 crore, which was unchanged from FY23.

CollegeDekho's revenue from operations increased to Rs 216 crore in FY24 from Rs 163 crore in FY23, according to consolidated financial statements obtained from the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The company was established back in 2015, is a marketplace for college admissions and higher education services. It provides student counseling and lead generation, university partnerships, education loans, test preparation, and study abroad services.

The company has not provided the complete revenue breakdown. Its primary source of revenue is commission on admissions, marketing services, promotion and advertising, online coaching, and other technology solutions. The company also added Rs 6 crore in interest and investment gains, bringing its total revenue to Rs 222 crore in FY24.

CollegeDekho spent 45% of its total expenses on employee benefits in FY24, totaling Rs 156 crore, a 5% decrease from the previous year. This includes Rs 8 crore in ESOP expenses, which are not cash in nature. The company's second-highest expense was advertising and promotion, which increased by 35% to Rs 97 crore in FY24, reflecting increased efforts to improve brand visibility and customer acquisition.

CollegeDekho's outsourcing and subcontracting costs increased by 33% in FY23. Legal, rent, provision for doubtful debts, travel, and other expenses contributed to a 16% increase in the company's total expenditure in FY24, from Rs 302 crore in FY23 to Rs 349 crore.

In the end, the company's losses remained flat at Rs 129 crore for FY24. Its ROCE and EBITDA margins were -78% and -44.6%, respectively. CollegDekho spent Rs 1.62 to generate one rupee of operating revenue. At the end of FY24, its current assets totaled Rs 211 crore, with cash and bank balances of Rs 3 crore.

CollegeDekho has raised more than USD 60 million in total, including a USD 9 million investment last year from its existing backers. According to the startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, CarDekho is the most important external stakeholder, followed by Winter Capital.

In a highly competitive market, such large losses are not good news for CollegeDekho. Aside from large players, the firm must contend with numerous startups slicing profitable niches such as foreign admissions with innovative offerings.  An ambitious player like CollegeDekho must create strong IPs to differentiate itself in the market. Whether these are high-quality reports on college infrastructure, evaluation studies, or evaluations of placement data, the market requires a credible clutter buster. Rankings have been rigged, data is questionable, and claims are outrageous, to say the least. All in all, the increase in private sector colleges and fee inflation is more indicative of the state's failure to provide basic services than anything else.