In a trading update, Dev Clever (DEV ) said that due to “significant progress” made in FY21 that revenue is now expected to be around £7.4m, an increase in the region of 500% on FY20.
The education-focused technology company said adjusted EBITDA is also expected to come in materially ahead of management’s expectations for the year ended 31 October 2021 as a result of “substantial operational progress” during the period which saw the group secure several major agreements. Dev Clever said it has ended the year with net cash of £7.5m.
In FY21, Dev Clever secured partnerships and agreements with Veative Laboratories, the National Independent Schools Alliance (“NISA”), Aldebaron DMCC and the CSC Academy in India (“CSC Academy”). as well as building on its existing market positions in the UK and US.
In India, Dev Clever saw progress with its agreements with NISA and CSC Academy. It said the roll-out of its capabilities to NISA-affiliated Budget Private Schools is ahead of schedule.
To date, over 1,000 Budget Private Schools comprising c.500,000 pupils had its capabilities in operational use, this being 25% greater than the original internal partnership forecast, it said.
Non-NISA-affiliated schools have now begun to approach Dev directly to widen the pool of opportunity from c.70,000 NISA-affiliated Budget Private Schools to the wider Budget Private School ecosystem of c.300,000 schools that exist on top of the 1.1m public sector schools.
In 1Q22, Dev expects to see its partnership with the government-backed CSC Academy to progress to ‘Phase Two’. As a result of the success to date, the Company said it has now commenced initial conversations with other regional government departments in the country.
As part of its second phase, the group’s proprietary immersive career guidance and learning platform will be rolled out to all CSC Academy centres across India, to cover 2.6m students.
In the UK, Dev Clever successfully completed its acquisition of The Inspirational Learning Group (“TILG”) in July 2021, enabling it to adopt and rebrand its physical programme The National Enterprise Challenge (“TNEC”) to The National Career Challenge (“TNCC”).
Over 300 schools with over 50,000 students in the UK are already confirmed to participate in TNCC, with those schools also signing up to adopt Dev’s Launchmycareer.com platform.
In addition, the company said its rollout of TNCC remains ‘on track’ for launch in India for calendar 1H22. The Company said it anticipates that this will further accelerate market and student penetration in India and drive a move into other territories around the world.
Meanwhile, to facilitate the growth of the Company’s international operations and support the Aldebaron roll-out into emerging markets, Dev Clever has now opened an office in Dubai.
Despite progress being slower than expected as a direct result of COVID-19, Dev said is beginning to see an uplift in orders across North America following the relaxation in restrictions. It is currently working with Lenovo and its partners to accelerate the rollout of its platforms, including those that are pre-installed on Lenovo VR Classroom devices, it noted.
CEO, Chris Jeffries, said “The Group has grown significantly over the last two years, from a solid UK base to a meaningful international hub for innovative e-learning and progressive career development.
We are doubling down on our platform, content, people, partner and infrastructure investments to support the scaling of our proprietary EdTech platform globally.”
Last month, Dev Cleber said its wholly-owned Indian subsidiary and Veative Labs had agreed a material extension to their partnership with the CSC Academy in India (“CSC Academy”).
The extension followed a successful pilot which was launched in June 2021 where the immersive learning and careers platform went live in 25 of the 5,930 CSC academy centres to assess the foundation programme of STEM-based immersive learning and careers guidance.
Following the successful completion of this pilot, the CSC Academy and Dev Clever agreed a foundation programme for phase two - with Dev Clever’s proprietary immersive career guidance and learning platform to be rolled out to all CSC academy centres across India.
As a result, in phase two the foundation programme will be offered to 2.6 million students and will begin to be rolled out in 1Q22, the education-focused technology company highlighted.
Back in June 2021, shares in Dev Clever jumped after it unveiled a ‘breakthrough’ tactical partnership expected to deliver a minimum of $50m in revenues over the next four years.
Last month, Dev Clever announced that the first phase of the tactical partnership with Aldebaron DMCC had been signed ahead of its UK launch of the National Careers Challenge.
The partnership will enable Dev to accelerate a global rollout plan across Asian territories, starting in India in partnership with NISA and then extending across Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia,
Philippines and into the Middle East and Africa in the next three years.
The contract with Adebaron is set to earn Dev Clever $5 million in 2021, $10 million in 2022, $25 million in 2023, and $20 million in 2024 (each for the financial years ending 31 October).
Under the terms of the partnership and as part of the first implementation phase, the National Careers Challenge (“NCC”) was launched in the UK on 30 September 2021. At the time, Dev said plans for an
Indian NCC are anticipated to be finalised in 4Q21 for full scale launch during 1H22 while Aldebaron’s initial platform capabilities are expected to go live in 4Q21.
In recent months, Dev Clever said in its 1H21 results that it had continued to make “material and incremental progress” over the period with revenue soaring 531% from £0.38m in 1H20.
The education-focused technology firm said its revenue increase of 531% to £2.4 million from £0.383m in 1H20 was supported by ‘significant contract wins’ in the Educate division.
Looking ahead, Dev Clever highlighted that the EdTech market ‘remains robust’. It said it believes there is “a globally growing need and demand for more effective careers platforms that can engage young people and connect them directly with their future employers.”
Looking ahead, and as a result of its strong performance, the company believes it is ‘very well placed to exceed management’s expectations for the full year ending 31 October 2021.’
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