Geniebook to ‘selectively expand’ after 2025 rebound

If 2023 was Geniebook’s year of navigating uncertainty, 2024 was about reining in costs, co-founder and CEO Zhizhong Neo tells Tech in Asia.

The Singapore-based edtech firm’s latest audited financial statements show that its 2024 revenue growth was largely flat, as expected. However, the firm says its online offering closed the year with record enrollments.

Revenue came in at US$15.1 million, marking a slight decline from the previous year. Loss before tax logged its third year of improvement, decreasing by 56% to US$3.5 million.

This growth primarily stemmed from a 27% reduction in employee expenses. Geniebook carried out two layoff rounds, cutting a total of 117 employees between January 2023 and August 2024.

Neo emphasizes that the company’s headcount stabilized in 2025. In fact, its revenue “returned to growth” that year, driven by higher subscription renewals, better sales conversions, and expansion of hybrid learning centers. He didn’t share further specifics.

Geniebook operates seven offline centers in Singapore as of July 2025. Combining traditional classroom settings with the company’s online tools, these centers often break even within four to nine months, Neo told Tech in Asia in an interview last year.

See also: We took our online-first startup hybrid. It got complicated

Now he says AI enhancements have also resulted in higher student engagement, which has in turn improved retention rates.

The company, for instance, uses instant AI marking and commenting tools that check answers against a database of past students’ answers. Meanwhile, an AI hints feature guides students without giving away answers.

Internally, the firm also uses AI agents and “intent-classification” bots to handle high-volume routine academic and administrative queries.

“AI has always been and is now still the core of Geniebook, but we are very deliberate about how we use it,” Neo says.

Hybrid is key

Several edtech players have faced challenges as demand for online learning fell sharply post-Covid, with some either cutting jobs or ceasing operations.

For example, Indonesia-based Zenius concluded its 20 years of operations in 2024, following multiple layoff rounds.

From at-risk to growth