School edtech platform Lead School expects its revenue to grow by nearly 20% in FY27 and aims to almost triple its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to around Rs 90 crore as it expands its artificial intelligence offerings and prepares for a potential public listing over the next two to three years, cofounder and chief executive Sumeet Mehta said.
The Mumbai-based company reported a 10% increase in operating revenue to Rs 386 crore in FY26, compared with Rs 351 crore in the previous fiscal year. Meanwhile, operating Ebitda jumped sevenfold to Rs 30 crore from Rs 4 crore. The company also reduced its net loss to around Rs 33 crore from Rs 43 crore in FY25. Mehta expects Lead to either achieve net profitability or reach break-even in FY27.
However, Lead’s FY26 revenue growth fell short of its earlier 25-30% target. According to Mehta, the delayed rollout of Miss Curie, the company’s AI-powered spoken-English product, primarily affected growth. The company spent additional time evaluating learning outcomes as underlying AI models continued to evolve rapidly.
“The investment went in; the revenue took some time because we wanted to test and be sure that we were launching it correctly,” he said.
Additionally, disruptions in Lead’s Middle East publishing business and delays in upselling grades 9 and 10 affected its FY26 performance. Uncertainty surrounding new CBSE textbooks also contributed to slower growth.
Miss Curie currently serves around 20,000 students across 70 schools. Lead plans to expand the product to more than 500 schools over the next year. Meanwhile, its Techbook product already generates around Rs 25-30 crore in revenue, and Mehta expects Miss Curie to reach a similar scale next year. Over the longer term, AI-powered products could account for 25-30% of Lead’s overall business, he said.
Lead currently works with approximately 9,000 active schools, compared with around 8,400 a year earlier. The company added nearly 900 schools during FY26 but lost about 300, resulting in around 600 net additions. Its net revenue retention remained close to 100%, below the company’s 110% target, as delayed AI product launches and uncertainty around textbooks limited upselling opportunities.
Meanwhile, Mehta has revised Lead’s earlier target of reaching 60,000 schools. The company now expects to serve 20,000-25,000 schools over the next five years. Lead had announced a target of reaching 60,000 schools in 2023, while it outlined a revised goal last year of reaching 25,000 schools and 10 million students by 2030.
“I don’t think with learning systems alone we will get to 60,000 because learning systems require a full transformation of schools and not a lot of private schools are ready for that,” Mehta said.
Instead, Lead plans to rely more heavily on products that schools can adopt more easily, including Miss Curie and its foundation programme, to drive future school additions.
Learning systems generated around 76% of Lead’s FY26 revenue, while publishing contributed the remainder. The company acquired Pearson’s India K-12 business in 2023, a deal that sources had reported would increase Lead’s school network from around 3,500 to approximately 9,000 schools.
Since then, Lead has converted some of its publishing customers into full learning-system clients. The company upgraded around 100 schools in each of the past two years, and these conversions increase revenue per school by approximately three times, Mehta said.
To support its AI initiatives, Mehta, cofounder Smita Deorah, and an existing investor recently invested Rs 21 crore in Lead. However, Mehta said the company does not require external funding to support organic growth. It could nevertheless raise capital to finance a potential acquisition.
Lead last raised a significant equity round in 2022, securing $100 million at a valuation of $1.1 billion.
On its IPO plans, Mehta said Lead continues to receive interest from investment bankers but wants to build a larger revenue base and improve profitability before going public. “Between FY28 and FY29 we will be in a good place,” he said.
