LEAD FY26’s Loss Dips 20% YoY To ₹34.5 Cr, Operating Revenue Up 10%
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Edtech unicorn LEAD School managed to narrow its FY26 net loss by over 20% to ₹34.5 Cr from ₹43.3 Cr reported in the year-ago period by focusing on cost optimisation over the past fiscal.
Operating revenue for the fiscal grew by 10% to ₹386.7 Cr from ₹351.8 Cr reported in the previous fiscal year. Including other income of ₹5.4 Cr, LEAD’s total income in FY26 stood at ₹392 Cr.
EBITDA zoomed 7.5X to ₹30.2 Cr during the year from ₹4 Cr, an improvement the Mumbai-based startup attributed to better school retention over the fiscal.
Set up in 2012 by husband-wife duo Sumeet Mehta and Smita Deorah, LEAD provides an integrated academic and tech ecosystem for schools. It works with students, teachers, parents and school administrators to improve teaching, assessments and learning outcomes through technology-enabled tools.
It has expanded its product portfolio to include multiple variants of its learning systems, a foundation learning system that embeds competitive test-preparation within schools, personalised learning through TECHBOOK and is now investing heavily in AI-first learning solutions, including the recent rollout of AI-powered spoken-English product Miss Curie.
The edtech startup entered the unicorn club in 2022 after raising $100 Mn in a Series E round led by WestBridge Capital and GSV Ventures.
A bulk of its revenue during the year came from the sale of books, teaching aids and devices, which contributed ₹275.4 Cr to the overall operating income, while platform services contributed the remaining ₹76.5 Cr.
It claims to be present across 9,000 schools in 400 towns and cities, reaching a cumulative 41 Lakh students. As per its annual report, classrooms that follow its curriculum reported an 84% result in early years and 72% for primary, while 14% of its students scored higher than 90% in their Class 10 board exams.
The startup is now eyeing a further 20% YoY growth in its operating revenue during the ongoing fiscal year (FY27), while EBITDA is expected to rise 3X to ₹90 Cr, Mehta told ET, adding that LEAD is expected to turn net profitable or at least break even during the fiscal.
Where Did LEAD Spend In FY26?
LEAD incurred total expenses of ₹426.5 Cr in FY26, a marginal 3.8% increase from ₹410.7 Cr in the year-ago period.
Employee Benefit Expenses: LEAD spent ₹131.2 Cr under this head during the fiscal year, a 6% improvement from ₹139.7 Cr reported in the year-ago period.
Purchase Of Stock-In-Trade: The startup spent ₹110 Cr during the year under this year. However, it also reported a gain of ₹5.1 Cr from change in inventories of stock-in-trade, leading to a total expense of ₹105 Cr, down 5.4% from ₹110.9 Cr in FY25.
Ad Expense: LEAD spent ₹18.9 Cr on marketing expenses during the fiscal year, a 10% YoY jump from ₹17.2 Cr in FY25.
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