The coaching industry in India has boomed significantly over the last two decades. While you hear some common names like Unacademy, Akash PhysicsWallah, etc. But these are new ones compared to an age-old coaching institute i.e. Allen Career Institute. Do you remember the exams of the Olympiads back in school days? Allen offers national and international exam preparation services. Do you know it is a unicorn? This means it surpassed the valuation of $1 billion. Allen valuation is $1.8 billion (Rs.15,000 crore). Recently, it raised Rs.4500 crore from Bodhi Tree. So, in this article, we will delve into Allen shareholder’s breakdown and funding valuation.
A Brief History of Allen
Allen was the first player in the industrial town of Kota. Its journey began in the year 1988 i.e. 35 years ago. It opened as a small tuition shop with hardly 8 students. Over the years it grabbed a strong foothold for Olympiad & Entrance exams of medicine (NEET) and engineering (JEE). Now, it has more than 50 centers in India. Can you guess the number of students it has? Over 2.8 million students.
Unlike other coaching centers, Allen maintained its traditional form of teaching without entering the online space. However, with the increased demand and significance of the online education market, Allen decided to enter the digital world too! For that, it needed huge funding. Did it receive any funding? Yes! From “Bodhi Tree Systems.”
Allen Shareholders & Funding
As a majority of educational institutes were shifting to e-learning systems, Allen also felt the need to do so! But this wasn’t a cakewalk for an institute that works on the traditional working system. It needed to build apps, e-learning materials, educators, etc. And all these things require funding. At that time, James Murdoch’s Bodhi Tree Systems arrived as a savior of Allen. It invested in Allen Career Institute. The investment value was $600 billion or approx. Rs.4500 crores (as per Crunchbase). This amount was raised in May 2022.
Bodhi Tree is the only investor in Allen Career Institute. Thus, Allen valuation is Rs.15,000 crore ($1.8 billion). Thus, the investment firm of James Murdoch is likely to pick approx. 35% stake in Allen.
Visionary Map of Allen Career Institute
Let’s look at the journey of Allen in the digital world.
| Timeline | Allen’s Actions & Plans |
| May 2022 | Bodhi Tree pumps $600 million funding. Out of this 70% of funds were deployed in the development of digital assets. |
| June 2022 | ALLEN Digital was launched |
| September 2022 | Ankit Khurana was appointed as the CPO (Chief Procurement Officer) of ALLEN Digital |
| November 2022 | Saurabh Tandon was appointed as CTO (Chief Technical Officer) of ALLEN Digital |
| February 2023 | ALLEN NExT app was launched for medical PG (Post Graduate) aspirants |
| May 2023 | CEO of ALLEN: Nitin Kukreja CEO of ALLEN Digital: Abha Maheshwari |
| December 2023 (Upcoming Plans) | Scaling technology & product teams across India. |
In Allen, the student base doubled over the last year. The numbers skyrocketed from 3.5 lakh to 4 lakh students in the year 22-23. This includes the figures for both online and offline channels. That is ALLEN coaching institute and ALLEN Digital.
Allen’s Financials
Let’s compare financials of Allen in the last two years-
| Particulars | FY23 | FY22 |
| Revenue | Rs.2,600 crore | Rs.1,900 crore |
| EBITDA | Rs.600 crore | Rs.450 crore |
| Expenses | Undisclosed | Undisclosed |
| Profits/Loss | Undisclosed | Undisclosed |
Allen’s Success Stories
As per the officials, Allen earned all the revenue solely through the student base. In the year 2023, a total of 34 students from Allen were among the top 100 rank holders of JEE Main 2023. Also, 22,007 students cleared JEE Main and were eligible for JEE Advanced in 2023. These success stories of Allen’s students describe its exclusive quality of coaching. Thus, it inspires other students to take coachings from Allen.
Final Words: Future Plans of Allen
Seeing these success stories, students from other parts of India travel to the cities that have offline Allen centers. For example- Kota. Why? You may wonder. To receive one of the finest coaching institute’s teachings. But this journey is quite exhaustible for children. Allen understood this problem of students.
Therefore, it is planning to expand its arms all over India and improve its digital platform. So that students don’t have to travel to Kota to receive Allen’s education. As of now, Allen has over 200 classroom centers in 53 cities in India. It comprises both tier-1 and tier-2 cities. Also, it is planning to establish official centers in Hyderabad and Delhi NCR region. Thus, with a high valuation, Allen is anticipating expanding its centers and students base.
