Great Learning
Indian online learning platform offering university-branded certificates and degrees.
On the record
Checkpoint: FY26 annual results and resolution of Byju's Singapore entity creditor proceedings
The call
Great Learning turned a profit and kept its university partnerships, but it's fighting bigger platforms and free AI tutors with a credential it doesn't own outright.
Great Learning teaches online courses and certification programs to over 13 million students globally, with some courses partnered with universities like IIT Bombay and Johns Hopkins. The company faces two big problems: larger competitors like Coursera and LinkedIn Learning can offer similar courses, and free AI tutoring tools like ChatGPT are making basic online courses less valuable. The one thing that could save the company is if its university-backed degree programs grow much faster than its regular self-paced courses, but right now everything is growing slowly, and there is also a messy legal fight over ownership in Singapore that could shake up the company's structure.
Why
01
AI pressure: ChatGPT, Gemini, Khan Academy-style AI tutors. Free AI tutors can now explain the same intro coding or data topics, squeezing the self-paced course layer that isn't tied to a university name. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.
02
Bigger players: Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, Google Career Certificates, upGrad. Coursera alone has 90M+ learners and 350+ university partners, competing for the same corporate and individual learners at greater scale. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. University brand tie-ups like IIT Bombay and Johns Hopkins give credentials weight that a generic AI chatbot can't replicate.
What would change this call
Resolution of the Singapore entity's status in Byju's creditor proceedings. Shows whether employee equity and cap table survive intact or get diluted.
FY26 annual results due around November 2026, especially credentialed-program revenue growth vs commodity course revenue. Shows whether the university-credential moat is strengthening or the borrowed layer is leaking to rivals.
Whether new AI-driven course launches in 2025-26 translate into measurable enrollment growth. Shows if AI-course strategy is gaining real traction or just marketing activity.
FY26 annual results due around November 2026, especially credentialed-program revenue growth vs commodity course revenue. Shows whether the university-credential moat is strengthening or the borrowed layer is leaking to rivals.
Whether new AI-driven course launches in 2025-26 translate into measurable enrollment growth. Shows if AI-course strategy is gaining real traction or just marketing activity.
Key numbers
- Group revenue ₹1,039 crore, up ~5%
- 13.8M+ learners across 170+ countries
- India entity net loss narrowed to ₹2.2 crore
Named risks
- Singapore entity still in Byju's creditor/receivership proceedings as of June 2026, cap-table uncertainty.
- Free AI tutors (ChatGPT, Gemini) erode demand for commodity self-paced course content.
- Consolidated revenue growth stalled near 5% for two straight fiscal years (FY24-FY25).
- Credential moat rented from university partners (IIT Bombay, SPJIMR, MIT) rather than owned by Great Learning.
- Headcount and scale data across aggregators conflicting, indicating weak public disclosure transparency.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Coursera | losing to | Coursera has ~92-140M learners and 350+ university partners (vendor-claimed) vs GL's 13.8M as of 2026 |
| LinkedIn Learning | contesting | Microsoft's LinkedIn Learning competes for same enterprise upskilling budgets as of 2026 |
| upGrad | contesting | India-based peer running identical university-partnered upskilling model |
| Emeritus/Eruditus | contesting | Direct rival in executive education and university-branded credential programs |
| Google Career Certificates | gaining on | Big Tech certificate programs and Gemini-based learning tools expand into GL's segment |
Questions people ask
- Is Great Learning profitable in 2025?
- Yes, narrowly. Great Learning's India entity net loss shrank from ₹58 crore in FY24 to just ₹2.2 crore in FY25, while group operating profit rose 191% to ₹40 crore on ₹1,039 crore consolidated revenue, per filings reported December 2025 and June 2026.
- Who owns Great Learning now that Byju's collapsed?
- Founder Mohan Lakhamraju bought back control of the India entity for roughly $10 million in early 2024 after Byju's $600 million 2021 acquisition unwound. The offshore Singapore holding entity remains tied up in Byju's creditor proceedings, still unresolved as of June 17, 2026.
- Could AI replace Great Learning's courses?
- Partially. Great Learning's self-paced, commodity certificate content overlaps heavily with what free AI tutors like ChatGPT or Gemini already offer, but its university-branded credentials with IIT Bombay, Johns Hopkins, and MIT Professional Education are harder to replicate since they depend on partner-issued accreditation, not GL's own IP.
- Who is Great Learning's biggest competitor?
- Coursera is the largest, with roughly 92 to 140 million learners and 350+ university partners (vendor-claimed figures, as of 2026) versus Great Learning's 13.8 million learners in 170+ countries as of late 2025. LinkedIn Learning, upGrad, and Emeritus also compete directly for enterprise upskilling budgets.
- Is it safe to take a job at Great Learning?
- Financially the India entity turned near break-even in FY25 with ₹470.8 crore revenue, but the Singapore parent entity is still entangled in Byju's creditor/receivership proceedings as of June 2026, an unresolved ownership overhang that could affect employee equity and cap-table structure.
- What happened between Byju's and Great Learning?
- Byju's acquired Great Learning for $600 million in July 2021, promising a further $400 million that was never fully delivered. As Byju's collapsed, the deal unwound: founder Mohan Lakhamraju bought back the India entity for about $10 million in 2024, while the Singapore unit stayed in creditor proceedings.
Timeline
- 2026-06-17Report confirms Singapore entity creditor settlement with Byju's lenders still unresolved
- 2026-03-13Great Learning launches AWS SageMaker course
- 2026-02-23Great Learning launches AI for Business Innovation course
- 2025-11-01Entrackr reports FY25 consolidated revenue of Rs 1,039 crore
- 2025-07-11Great Learning launches Mastering Generative AI course
- 2024-11-29Great Learning partners with IIT Bombay on Executive PG Diploma in AI and Data Science
- 2024-01-01Founder Mohan Lakhamraju buys back India entity for about $10 million
- 2023-10-01Kroll appointed receiver over Singapore entity tied to Byju's $1.2B term loan
- 2022-05-01Great Learning (under Byju's) acquires Northwest Executive Education for about $100 million
- 2021-07-01Byju's acquires Great Learning for $600 million
Revision history
22 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- BYJU's acquires Singapore-based Great Learning for $600 million
- Byju's spends $2 billion for acquisitions over six months
- A $600-million Byju's deal unwound: Great Learning finds its way back to founders (2025-12-18)
- Great Learning's scale goes past Rs 1,039 Cr in FY25 (2025-11-01)
- Great Learning co-founder says management control shielded it from Byju's downfall hit (2026-06-17)
- How Great Learning Built A Profitable Future Away From BYJU'S (2025-02-18)
- BYJU'S Acquires Great Learning for $600 million (2026-07-16)
- Great Learning: Employee Directory (2023-06-11)
- Master Generative AI Course... (2025-07-11)
- Great Learning Launches AI for Business Innovation Course (2026-02-23)
- Great Learning Launches AWS SageMaker Course (2026-03-13)
- 12 Best Coursera Alternatives In 2025 (2024-01-04)