World’s most valued edtech giant Byju’s, which just raised over a billion dollars last year, is reportedly in talks with investors including Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital to raise USD 500-600 million, as it gets aggressive for global expansion.
Local media Economic Times (ET), citing three people in the know, said in a report that Byju’s is seeking a valuation of USD 14-15 billion in this round of funding. Byju’s was valued at USD 12 billion in November when it raised USD 200 million.
This fundraise is Byju’s effort to finance its recent acquisition of Aakash Educational Services, a physical chain of tuition centers. In addition to this, a part of the capital will also go into acquiring online education platform Toppr, a deal that is in the final stage of closure. According to the sources, 70% of the acquisition cost of Aakash is to be paid in cash and the rest in equity. Similarly, Byju’s will pay USD 50 million in cash to acquire Mumbai-based Toppr.
“The latest fundraise is largely primary in nature as Byju’s would utilize the capital to close these acquisitions. It is also eyeing some buyouts in the US. The proceeds from the fundraise will also be used to expand globally,” one of the sources told ET.
Nine-year-old Byju’s, which primarily caters to students from kindergarten to the 12th grade and claims to have over 4.5 million paid users, benefitted a great deal from multiple lockdowns last year due to COVID-19.
Byju’s added 20 million new users last year in the first four months of lockdown as parents looked for an alternate education platform for their kids at a time when schools were temporarily shut, according to the same ET report. To put the number into perspective, Byju’s took four years to onboard the first 40 million users.
The company is targeting a revenue of USD 1 billion in the financial year 2020-21. It earned INR 2,800 crore (USD 386 million) in the financial year ended March 2020.
