On December 7th, YQ. US released its financial results for the third quarter of 2023. In the third quarter, Tonghe Education Technology achieved a revenue of 45.1 million yuan, with a cumulative revenue of 124 million yuan in the first three quarters. The company continues to optimize costs and expenses, resulting in a year-on-year decrease of 14.5% in total expenses. As of September 30th, the total amount of cash and equivalents, including short-term investments and fixed deposits, was 524 million yuan, with a gross profit margin of 54.1%.
In terms of education technology, it was stated that during the reporting period, the revenue of the company's main projects was recognized, and significant progress was made in the business under the new model, laying the foundation for further increasing market share in the future.
Since the implementation of the digital education strategy, Education Technology has responded to the call and continued to implement and promote the digital education strategy. In the third quarter, the digital transformation business of education technology on campus achieved steady growth, while actively exploring new growth strategies and establishing diversified payment models to maintain business flexibility.
During the period, together with Education Technology, breakthroughs were made in supporting the digital transformation of private education business models, cooperation was reached with multiple schools to achieve subscription based services, and new project contracts continued to increase. After excluding the Minhang project obtained over a longer period of time, the total amount of newly signed contracts with Education Technology in the third quarter of 2023 has further increased on the basis of the second quarter of 2023.
In addition, during this quarter, as the market's acceptance of the SaaS business model increased, the SaaS (Software as a Service) signing model continued to increase. Although revenue recognition is relatively slow in the SaaS model, it has unique advantages in terms of revenue repeatability and subsequent sales efficiency improvement. As the number of projects signed under the SaaS model continues to increase and accumulate, the company's business and financial structure will also become healthier and more stable.
According to the financial report, in the third quarter of 2023, the digital transformation business of education technology and education achieved delivery acceptance and revenue recognition for key projects, including projects in Minhang District, Shanghai, Xicheng District, Beijing, and some private schools. At the same time as some project revenue was confirmed, Tonghe Education Technology successfully won the bid for the Smart Homework Project in Changning District, Shanghai, with a winning amount of 5.96 million yuan. This is also another cooperation between the district and Tonghe Education Technology in the field of smart education. Prior to this, Minhang District in Shanghai and Xicheng District in Beijing had continued to engage in in-depth cooperation with Education Technology on important projects such as smart paper and pen, digital evaluation systems, etc.
Since the beginning of this year, Education Technology has continuously emphasized the enhancement of digital application brand influence. In August 2023, the company was invited to participate in the Global Smart Education Conference. Liu Chang, Chairman of Education Technology, has promoted the "One Education, One Learning" regional education digital transformation solution and experience to a broader public perspective, greatly enhancing the industry influence of the practice of regional digital transformation driven by homework data.
In September 2023, Education Technology was invited to participate in the 20th Shanghai Education Expo, bringing competitive products such as high-quality homework solutions, smart learning pen boxes, and cloud recording and broadcasting smart classrooms to the exhibition. Integrating display and interaction, the smart teaching interactive classroom, synchronous commentary and other highlights of real-time and interactive functional experiences vividly demonstrate the outstanding advantages of education in providing digital transformation solutions.
In the field of educational informatization, Together Education Technology will adhere to the long-term strategic principle of digital transformation of on campus education, and steadily promote the landing of digital transformation business in the national market. As of now, the newly signed digital transformation project is being promoted and gradually expanding to a nationwide scale. In terms of user experience and needs, Education Technology will continue to optimize and iterate core products in the future, utilizing intelligent technologies such as AI to continuously improve user experience and company operational efficiency. At the same time, in order to meet the diverse needs of users, we always maintain the ability to explore and innovate during the transformation and upgrading process, and continue to invest in exploring new business models.