Leverage Edu’s AI Bet Runs Through the Human Agent

A student-recruitment platform can automate more work while paying human intermediaries more money. Leverage Edu’s latest financials suggest why the two may develop together.

The company more than doubled operating revenue to ₹364.4 crore in FY26. Commissions paid to agents and other partners rose 2.2 times to ₹114 crore, becoming its largest expense. Advertising expenditure, meanwhile, fell 24.2% to ₹45.3 crore.

Those movements suggest a business increasingly drawing on external distribution while spending less on advertising. They also provide a useful frame for the company’s expanding use of artificial intelligence.

The opportunity is to help a network of people recruit and serve students more effectively. If technology improves counselling, follow-ups and application processing, it could allow that network to generate more completed enrolments without costs growing at the same pace.

That would be a meaningful advance in a business where a promising enquiry is several uncertain steps away from becoming revenue.

THE NETWORK STILL MATTERS

Founded by Akshay Chaturvedi in 2017, Leverage Edu operates across overseas admissions, education financing and related student services.

Its FY26 improvement was substantial. Net losses reportedly narrowed to ₹19.4 crore from ₹105.7 crore, while EBITDA turned positive at ₹2 crore. Student-placement services generated ₹281.8 crore, or approximately 77% of operating revenue.

Yet the earnings cushion remains small. A modest shift in conversion, commission terms or operating costs could materially affect profitability.

The agent network is central to that equation. Local intermediaries can bring relationships, language capabilities and knowledge of how families make decisions. A technology platform can provide access to institutions, processing systems and additional services.

Their relationship is commercially interdependent. The platform needs productive distribution; partners need reasons to direct students through it.

Rising commission payments can therefore accompany successful expansion. The more useful question is how much value remains after the cost of securing and completing each enrolment.

AI AS A COUNSELLOR’S COACH

Chaturvedi’s account of LE-AI includes analysis after counselling sessions to help coaches improve performance.

That application deserves closer attention than a generic announcement about automated advice. Counselling is a process involving several judgments: academic suitability, affordability, destination preferences and the requirements of individual institutions.

A session can appear productive while leaving an important question unresolved. A student may receive a shortlist without fully understanding the financial commitment. A follow-up may arrive too late. Information may need correcting before an application proceeds.

Post-session analysis could help identify recurring weaknesses and improve training. Its commercial value would depend on whether those improvements produce better outcomes.

The relevant measures include students served per counsellor, time to application completion, rework, enrolment conversion and complaints. These would show whether AI is improving the underlying operation.

Leverage’s financials offer an encouraging productivity signal: employee expenditure rose 14.1% to ₹73 crore, considerably slower than revenue. But the figures do not isolate AI’s contribution. Partner-led growth, greater utilisation and changes in business mix could also explain the divergence.

A GLOBAL INDUSTRY BUILT AROUND INTERMEDIARIES

International comparisons suggest that technology can reinforce recruitment networks.

ApplyBoard’s published product updates combine AI tools with application tracking, commission visibility and access to additional student services. The platform equips recruitment partners to manage more of the process through a common system.

The underlying proposition is practical. If technology makes the intermediary’s work easier and more effective, the platform can become more valuable to that intermediary.

IDP has also described investment in AI-empowered counsellors and richer student profiles. Its financial position illustrates the difficult environment in which such investment takes place: FY26 revenue was approximately A$795.4 million, against a restated A$891.4 million a year earlier.

IDP’s business mix and reporting period differ from Leverage’s. Their results nevertheless underline an important limit: a stronger recruitment operation must still contend with demand and decisions beyond its control.

Technology can improve processing and advice. It cannot guarantee admission, visa approval or a family’s ability to finance a course.

THE ACQUISITION-COST QUESTION

Leverage says stronger brand awareness and referrals have reduced customer-acquisition costs. Lower advertising expenditure is consistent with reduced dependence on paid campaigns, but cannot establish the full saving.

Students can arrive through several channels, each with different economics. A referral may require little advertising. An external partner may receive a substantial payment after a successful placement.

That distinction matters because shifting expenditure between channels can change when costs arise and how closely they track revenue.

The analytical task is to compare the cost and quality of completed enrolments by source. A channel that appears expensive may deliver better conversion or fewer processing problems. A cheap enquiry may consume considerable counselling time without producing an enrolment.

The ₹114 crore commission bill should therefore be assessed alongside outcomes, rather than treated simply as a cost to eliminate.

MORE SERVICES, SHARED DEPENDENCIES

Leverage’s Fly business generated ₹59.6 crore in FY26, roughly twice the preceding year’s revenue. It earns commissions across education loans, foreign exchange and student accommodation.

These services address genuine needs surrounding an overseas education. A company already helping with admission has an opportunity to assist with the financial and practical arrangements that follow.

The commercial benefit is a larger potential relationship with each student. However, several services remain connected to the same underlying journey. If that journey does not proceed, multiple revenue opportunities can weaken together.

Service expansion consequently increases potential earnings per student while retaining exposure to student mobility.

It also makes trust more consequential. Recommendations about education, borrowing and accommodation involve substantial commitments. Better conversion is most valuable when accompanied by suitable advice and dependable delivery.

THE NEXT PROOF

Leverage’s latest results show that revenue can grow much faster than several operating costs. They also show a company still working with limited operating profitability.

The next evidence should come from how its network performs: successful enrolments per counsellor, costs by acquisition channel, application quality and cash collected.

Its geographic expansion adds further questions. Reported international revenue alone does not reveal the nationality of students or the diversity of recruitment demand.

The strongest version of Leverage’s AI strategy would make a distributed human network more consistent, responsive and productive. That could create an advantage extending beyond any individual tool.

Revenue growth has established the scale of the opportunity. Turning better counselling and processing into repeatable earnings will establish the strength of the model.