Finally, Byju’s has surpassed Paytm to become the most valued startup in India. The EdTech giant raised $350 million to reach a valuation of $16.5 billion. UBS, private equity giant Blackstone, Abu Dhabi state fund ADQ, Phoenix Rising, and video conference firm Zoom’s founder Eric Yuan participated in the concluded funding round.
Details about Current Funding Round
Since the last week of April, there was a discussion between UBS and Byju’s about the fundraising of $150 million. But finally, Byju’s closed a funding round of $350 million from UBS and other investors. The edtech startup revealed this detail in its regulatory filings.
The current funding round not only jumped Byju’s valuation to $16.5 billion, but it also became the most valued Indian startup, surpassing Paytm’s $16 billion valuations.
In last one and a half year, Byju’s have raised over $1.5 billion from existing and new investors. Covid pandemic has spiked the demand of edtech startups like Byju’s, Unacademy, and Vedantu, etc.
With current funding, Byju’s will expand its operations by acquiring more education startups. Byju’s has already acquired brick-and-mortar coaching institute Aakash. It also bought children coding platform Whitehat Jr. These are the two major acquisitions of Byju’s completed recently. The edtech giant is in talks with Great Learning and Gradeup to bought them.
Byju’s Exponential Growth
Since January 2020, Byju Raveendran led Byju’s valuation has doubled from $8 billion to $16.5 billion. Naspers, General Atlantic, B Capital, Blackrock, and Sequoia Capital are the other investors who have strong support for Byju’s.
Byju’s has become the leader of the edtech industry globally. Due to current acquisitions and its operations, the firm is handling different educational services including toddlers to high school and college entrance exams and beyond. It also has customers in the US and other developed markets, where parents are often likely to pay more for education.
The edtech startup is one the most profitable firm among Indian unicorns. As per reports, it may reach a revenue of $1 billion in FY2022. The startup is leaving no stone unturned to grow further.
Recently, Byju’s got featured in World’s 100 most influential companies list released by TIME Magazine in 2021. Talking about Byju’s, TIME said:
“BYJU’S also snapped up a leading Indian test-prep school for almost $1 billion. The explosive growth has turned BYJU’S into one of India’s most lucrative startups, increasing the company’s expected value to $15 billion, up from $5.5 billion in July 2019”
Byju Raveendran is the co-founder and CEO of Byju’s. He belongs to a teachers’ family. His parents and Byju himself is a teacher. He still takes few classes on Byju’s platform.
While, Paytm, which held the crown of the most valuable internet startup till now, is planning a $3 billion IPO in Q4 of 2021. This will be the largest IPO start in Indian history.
