Coursera Q2 2023: $153.7M Revenue, 129M Learners, Stock Jumps 20%
Coursera sets a $620M revenue target for 2023, following their Q2 results.
Last week, Coursera announced its Q2 2023 results which caused a ~20% increase in the company’s stock price. In the announcement, Coursera also raised their revenue outlook midpoint for 2023 by $15 million, to a new target of $620 million.
In Q2 2023, Coursera’s revenue grew to $153.7 million, marking an increase from the $124.8 million recorded the previous year and $147.6 million in Q1 2023. The company, however, recorded a loss of $31.7 million, which is notably less than the $49.3 million loss reported a year earlier.
This significant reduction in losses can be attributed to what the company describes as a “geography shift within the P&L“. This shift was caused by a multi-year contract extension that Coursera secured with its largest industry partner, Google, at the onset of this year. Essentially, Google and Coursera renegotiated certain terms of their revenue share agreement.
However, as a result of this agreement, Coursera’s gross profit margin fell from 62.8% of revenues a year ago, to 51.9% in Q2 2023. Nevertheless, this led to the company experiencing reduced losses.
Early this year, I speculated that Google’s contribution to Coursera’s revenue could be around $100 million per year.
Coursera has further expanded its Professional Certifications, adding 11 new ones in partnership with industry leaders like Akamai, CVS Health, Google, HRCI, IBM, and Microsoft. This brings the total number of certifications available on the platform to over 40.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Coursera was adding roughly 2 million learners per quarter. The pandemic, however, catalyzed a significant surge in sign-ups, pushing the figure to approximately 5 million learners per quarter. In the most recent quarter, the company added 5.7 million learners, increasing the total learner base to 129 million.
| Consumer | Enterprise | Degrees | Total | |
| 2021 Q1 | 51.9 | 24.5 | 12 | 88.4 |
| 2021 Q2 | 62 | 28.2 | 11.9 | 102.1 |
| 2021 Q3 | 66.5 | 31.8 | 11.6 | 109.9 |
| 2021 Q4 | 65.8 | 35.9 | 13.3 | 115 |
| 2022 Q1 | 68.1 | 39 | 13.3 | 120.4 |
| 2022 Q2 | 69.7 | 43.7 | 11.4 | 124.8 |
| 2022 Q3 | 78.0 | 48.0 | 10.3 | 136.4 |
| 2022 Q4 | 79.8 | 50.5 | 11.9 | 142.2 |
| 2023 Q1 | 82.03 | 52.17 | 13.44 | 147.642 |
| 2023 Q2 | 87 | 54.2 | 12.5 | 153.7 |
In terms of degree students, there has been a steady increase to 19,068 from 18,095 in the previous quarter. Despite this increase in enrollment, revenues from this segment dropped slightly from $13.4 million to $12.5 million. Coursera recently announced the addition of two new degree programs in artificial intelligence: a Bachelor’s program in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, and a Master’s program from Universidad de los Andes.
To learn more about how Coursera makes money, its different business segments, revenue growth, and profit margins, read my in-depth analysis of their financials.
