Leverage Edu Taps Investment Bankers for ₹2,000–3,000 Crore IPO: The Profitable Edtech Startup No One Saw Coming

In 2021, Akshay Chaturvedi's Leverage Edu barely registered on the list of Indian edtech companies worth watching. The sector was dominated by BYJU'S, which had raised billions, and a wave of venture‑backed upstarts spending aggressively on customer acquisition in a market suddenly made remote by the pandemic. Leverage Edu, which helps Indian and international students navigate the study abroad process from university selection to visa to housing, was smaller, quieter, and considerably more careful with capital.

Four years later, the picture has reversed with striking clarity. BYJU'S is in insolvency proceedings. Unacademy has scaled back dramatically. The study abroad platform that raised less than $50 million in total equity has turned profitable for the first time, doubled its revenue, and is now in active discussions with domestic and international investment bankers for a ₹2,000–3,000 crore IPO within the next 12 to 18 months, according to an exclusive report by Inc42 published April 7, 2026.

The Business That Got Built While Others Were Burning Cash

Leverage Edu's commercial trajectory in fiscal year 2026 tells the story of a startup that consistently chose operational discipline over growth theatre. The company closed fiscal year 2025 with over ₹180 crore in revenue and then, in just the first half of fiscal year 2026, generated more than ₹200 crore, putting it firmly on track to end the year at ₹360–380 crore. That doubles the previous year's figure.

The profitability breakthrough came alongside the revenue growth. After posting a ₹800 million loss in fiscal year 2025, Leverage Edu has generated ₹120–130 million in profit after tax in the period leading up to its IPO discussions and expects to surpass ₹250 million in profit by the end of fiscal year 2026, representing a 256 percent swing in one year from deep loss to meaningful profitability.

These numbers matter because they change the IPO conversation from aspiration to evidence. Investors in Indian public markets, having absorbed the lessons of several disappointing new‑age tech listings from 2021 to 2024, are applying significantly more scrutiny to the profitability trajectory of any company that seeks a public market premium. Leverage Edu arrives at the IPO conversation with actual profit, not a projected path to profit.

The Geographic Diversification Strategy That Made the Difference

The single biggest driver of Leverage Edu's resilience over the past three years was its decision to diversify rapidly away from the Canada and US markets that dominated Indian study abroad volumes before the diplomatic and visa complications that followed the 2023 deterioration of India‑Canada relations.

While competitors scrambled to manage a shrinking pipeline of Canadian university placements, Leverage Edu systematically rerouted students to Germany and began building a student pipeline from Africa into Canada, helping Canadian universities replace declining Indian enrollment with students from Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. This counterintuitive move, which turned a geographic crisis into a diversification opportunity, is the foundation of the company's current competitive position.

The company today operates across 27 countries through more than 50 offices with approximately 800 employees. It places over 10,000 students annually into universities across 11 destination countries, up from around 1,500 placements just a few years ago. In addition to India, active source markets now include Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Vietnam, and Malaysia, each representing significant student mobility demand with limited established competition.

Critically, 60 percent of Leverage Edu's student acquisitions happen at zero marketing cost, through referrals, repeat customers, and university partnerships. For an IPO story, this metric is as important as the revenue figure itself: a business where most customers arrive without paid acquisition is a business with structural profitability rather than manufactured results.

The Technology Layer That Supports the Platform Story

Beyond the counselling and admissions operations, Leverage Edu has built a technology stack that it will present as its competitive moat in the IPO process. The AI‑powered course search engine UniConnect matches students to universities based on their academic profile, financial situation, and career objectives. Univalley.ai is a recently launched SaaS suite for global universities, positioning Leverage Edu as a demand generation platform for institutions rather than purely an admissions agent for students.

Adjacent verticals including Leverage MBBS, which targets medical aspirants seeking international medical degrees, and Compass, which handles broader career services, create a platform story that extends beyond the core study abroad product.

Founder Chaturvedi has been clear about the sequencing: the company will decide between pursuing an IPO and raising a large sovereign fund round after crossing the $100 million revenue milestone, which it expects to reach in 2026. The investment banker discussions being reported now suggest that the IPO path is at minimum being explored in parallel with that milestone, and that Leverage Edu is further along the public market preparation process than its previously quiet profile suggested.

India's edtech IPO pipeline for 2026 includes PhysicsWallah, which has filed an updated DRHP for a ₹4,600 crore issue, and a growing list of profitable platforms across higher education, skilling, and test preparation. Leverage Edu, as a profitable, globally diversified study abroad platform with defensible unit economics and a founder who has consistently chosen fiscal discipline over growth theater, is the most interesting dark horse in that pipeline.