India based edtech company- Byju’s raised US$ 122M from DST Global on 27 Aug. 20. In 2020 itself, Byju’s has secured US$ 545M in funds so far. Its valuation has jumped to US$ 10.5 billion.
This funding comes after Byju’s raised US$ 23M from Mary Meeker’s BOND in late June. DST Global was founded by Russian Billionaire Yuri Milner. The fund had invested in Swiggy and Udaan in 2016 as well.
Let us take a look at all the funds raised by Byju’s from various investment companies in 2020 –
- January- Tiger Global (US$ 200M)
- February- General Atlantic (US$ 200M)
- June- BOND (US$ 23M)
- August- DST Global (US$ 122M)
Till now, Byju’s has raised over US$ 1.5B from investors including Naspers, Tencent, Verlinvest and Sequoia Capital. It is looking forward to overseas expansion. It had acquired the coding company White Hat Jr for US$ 300M. Byjus’s and White Hat Jr are planning to launch in 6 countries- Germany, Singapore, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
About the company
Founded in 2011, Byju’s has made a firm place in the edtech industry. In March 2019, it was also announced as the world’s most valued edtech company with a valuation of US$ 5.4B.
The founders of Byju’s Byju Raveendrean, his wife Divya Gokulnath and brother Riju Raveendran hold a stake of 33.1% in the company, which is around worth US$ 3.3 billion. Prior to the raising capital, they owned 33.45% stake.
All in all, it has been a really busy year for Byju’s. Byju’s has over 57 million students and over 3.5 million paid users on its platform. While many companies are facing losses due to the pandemic, Byju’s is making huge profits.
The coronavirus pandemic has increased the demand of online education substantially. With schools, colleges and coaching institutes shut, parents are looking for alternatives. Being in the edtech business for sometime now, Byju’s has definitely reaped great benefits from this situation.
