Author: Editor Agent

Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL) reported a substantial loss of Rs 2,443 crore in the fiscal year ending March 2024, primarily due to exceptional costs linked to its parent company, Think & Learn Private Limited (Byju’s). These costs encompassed high finance expenses and provisions associated with loan defaults, repayments, and write-offs involving the related party.

AESL’s revenue from operations held steady at Rs 2,438 crore in FY24, compared to Rs 2,399 crore in FY23. The company offers coaching services for NEET, IIT-JEE, Olympiads, and NTSE, catering to medical and engineering aspirants through classroom and distance learning programs. Student fees constituted 96% of total revenue, increasing by 2% to Rs 2,341 crore in FY24.

Additional revenue stemmed from the franchise model, declining by 8.5% to Rs 97 crore during the period. AESL also recorded Rs 433 crore in non-operating income, primarily from interest and manpower services, bringing its total income to Rs 2,471 crore in FY24.

Employee benefits, including staff and faculty expenses, represented the largest chunk of expenditure for AESL, accounting for 56% of the total. This cost escalated by 14% to Rs 1,411 crore in FY24. Moreover, depreciation and amortization expenses surged by 28% to Rs 259 crore in the same period.

Various expenses such as advertising, study materials, legal fees, and IT costs contributed to the total expenditure of AESL rising by 14% to Rs 2,532 crore in FY24. The company booked exceptional costs amounting to Rs 2,720 crore, predominantly tied to its parent company, Think & Learn Private Limited (Byju’s), resulting in a net loss of Rs 2,443 crore in FY24.

Excluding exceptional items and deferred tax impact, AESL reported a loss of Rs 61 crore in FY24, a significant shift from a profit of Rs 153 crore in FY23. Despite these challenges, AESL maintained a positive EBITDA of Rs 307 crore at the operational level, though its ROCE and EBITDA margin decreased to 6.76% and 12.57%, respectively, in FY24.

Source: Entrackr : Latest Posts

An AI-powered recruitment platform, HireBound, has successfully raised $2 million in a seed funding round led by Kalaari Capital, with additional participation from Antler, Infinyte Club, and CareerNet. This funding will be used by the Bengaluru-based startup to enhance product development, expand go-to-market operations, and fuel global expansion, with a target of achieving a 5x increase in annual recurring revenue (ARR) over the next 12–18 months.

Co-founded by Sharad Vij and Kumar Vikramaditya, HireBound specializes in an AI-driven recruitment platform that streamlines the entire hiring process. Their advanced AI system manages tasks such as sourcing, engagement, screening, evaluation, and candidate recommendations.

The company has facilitated over 3 million candidate interactions and trained its system on a vast dataset comprising more than 2 million resumes and 30,000 job openings. Integrating seamlessly with applicant tracking systems (ATS) and human resource management systems (HRMS), HireBound caters to staffing agencies and corporate talent teams.

With a current team size of 15 members, HireBound plans to expand into global markets within the next 12–24 months while adapting to diverse regional hiring practices and compliance standards.

Source: Entrackr : Latest Posts

optoML, a semiconductor startup specializing in SoC technology, has successfully raised $1.8 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by Bluehill.VC and A99. The company plans to utilize the investment to expand its workforce and commence development on its upcoming line of chips following the 12 nm tapeout completion with TSMC.

Led by Saravana Maruthamuthu, optoML is known for constructing analog-in-memory compute architectures integrated with optical interconnects to handle AI workloads efficiently. Their proprietary in-memory compute design reportedly offers a significant energy efficiency boost, up to 50 times more than conventional digital accelerators, with a focus on applications in edge computing, enterprise solutions, and data centers.

Furthermore, optoML has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kaynes Semiconductor to facilitate assembly and testing operations once TSMC delivers the wafers. The company functions as a fabless semiconductor entity, concentrating on developing scalable AI System-on-Chip (SoC) platforms using FinFET nodes.

Bluehill.VC, a firm specializing in deep-tech investments spanning semiconductors, defense, energy, and industrial technology, spearheaded the funding round for optoML.

Source: Entrackr : Latest Posts