Bengaluru: Online tutoring start-up Byju’s, run by Think and Learn Private Limited, has secured $400 million in a new round of funding, which makes it the fourth most valuable start-up in India.
The new financing was secured from Canada’s CPP Investment Board, Naspers Ventures, General Atlantic and some existing investors, according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), accessed through data intelligence platform Paper.vc and one person familiar with the transaction.
This round values the company at nearly $4 billion, according to the person cited above, making it the fourth most valuable start-up in India, trailing behind digital payments firm Paytm (One97 Communications Pvt. Ltd), cab-hailing service Ola, and budget hotel chain Oyo Rooms.
A Byju’s spokesperson declined to comment.
The company is expected to use the newly infused funds to expand its presence overseas.
“A direct investment of a big pension fund into the Indian venture ecosystem is a positive sign and opens up international markets for Byju’s,” said Vinod Murali, managing partner at venture debt firm Alteria Capital. “I expect them to use the new funds to fuel their overseas expansion plans.”
Investment in Byju’s comes at a time when investors are writing big cheques, indicating a return of a funding boom in the Indian start-up ecosystem. Other players in the space include the likes of online tutoring platform Vedantu, which raised $11 million just last month in a round led by Omidyar Network.
Unacademy, another online learning platform, raised a $21 million Series C round from Sequoia India, SAIF Partners and others.
Since starting out in 2008, Byju’s has raised more than $240 million from Tencent, Verlinvest, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Aarin Capital and others.
In July last year, the company raised about $40 million from Tencent, months after it raised $30 million from Verlinvest.
Byju’s attained the coveted unicorn status in its previous funding round, which saw the participation of Tencent.
In the past three years, Byju’s has exceeded investor expectations. The company, which started out as an offline teaching centre in Bengaluru, launched an app in 2015 to increase its user base. It currently offers two separate learning apps—its flagship app caters to students from Classes VI to XII, while the second targets students of Classes IV and V.