According to a regulatory filing, close to Rs 2,500 crore (about $340 million) have been raised by Education technology company Byju’s from investors such as the UBS Group, Zoom founder Eric Yuan, Blackstone, Abu Dhabi sovereign fund ADQ and Phoenix Rising–Beacon Holdings.
Byju Becomes India’s Most Valued Space
With the latest funding, Byju is valued around $16.5 billion post investment, making it most-valued startup in India, immediately followed by Paytm which was valued at $16 billion after its last funding round in late 2019.
Led by Baron Funds, Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group, and US-based hedge fund XN Exponent Holding Byju’s had raised more than $1 billion from investors, said a regulatory filings in April.
As the pandemic fuelled the demand for online education, most of the capital was cornered by ed-tech companies in the startup ecosystem. Byju’s has been on a fundraising spree since last year.
According to Venture Intelligence data, as
compared to $553 million in 2019, India’s
ed-tech startups together raised $2.2 billion in 2021.
Various Acquisitions
Byju has acquired Aakash Educational Services in a cash-and-stock deal estimated at $950 million and this fundraising comes post the acquisition of tutorial chain, which also marks the largest buyout in India’s online education sector.
With the clearance of CCI, Byju’s has cleared the deal. Also acquired WhiteHat Jr, Scholr, Osmo and Toppr and is in talks to acquire up Gradeup and Great Learning,
The company is now eying to launch the Byju’s Future School platform, under which it is trying to get an entry into the US, UK, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico in May and the investment led by UBS comes at a time of international expansion.
Company’s revenue doubled in the financial year ended March 2021 from the previous year. This would translate into revenue of around Rs 5,600 crore, compared with Rs 2,800 crore the year before.
More than 80 million students including 5.5 million annual paid subscribers, use its services. It said that the annual renewal rate is 86% and the company added 45 million new students in the first six months of the lockdown last year
India’s technology sector is expected to become a $ 30 billion industry in ten years, according to a recent report by commercial consulting firm RBSA Advisors.
Some of Byju’s first supporters include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Qatar Investment Authority, Owl Ventures, General Atlantic, Tiger Global, Tencent, Verlinvest and Sofina.
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