India’s education technology major Byju’s has raised $122 million as part of its ongoing Series F funding round.
The Bengaluru-based edtech firm secured the fund from DST Global, the investment fund floated by Russian tech billionaire Yuri Milner. The funding comes after the company has raised $23 million from global technology investment firm Bond Capital in June 2020.
According to regulatory documents filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs reported by Entrackr, Byju’s has allotted 42,666 Series F preference shares to DST Global at an issue price of Rs 213,042.13 per shares (Rs. 908.9 crore). It is said that post allotment DST Global will command a 1.2% stake in the Indian edtech giant.
Byju’s was reportedly in talks with the Hong Kong-headquartered DST Global to raise around $400 million in the ongoing round.
Meanwhile, with the latest funding, Byju’s has raised $545 million across four tranches in Series F round in 2020, including a $200 million each from Tiger Global (in January) and General Atlantic (in February). Till date, the company has raised over $1.3 billion.
2020 has been a roller coaster ride for Byju’s. The coronavirus crisis has significantly boosted its business, with schools shut to contain the spread of the disease, and online learning quickly took over. The online learning platform now has over 57 million registered users, with more than 3.5 million paid subscribers and annual renewal rates as high as 85%. It doubled its revenue to Rs 2,800 crore in FY20 from Rs 1,430 crore. The company said it is currently adding over 300,000 new subscribers every month.
Apart from list of mega investment deals and growth in numbers, Byju’s had acquired Mumbai-based coding platform WhiteHat Jr for $300 million earlier this month in one of the largest merger and acquisition deals in the Indian startup ecosystem till date. The company had also acquired US-based educational games maker Osmo for $120 million in January 2019, and also partnered with Disney and launched Byju’s Disney Early Learn App targeted at children in the 6-8 age group.
Having dominated the online learning space in the country, Byju’s is now looking to expand its presence into international markets. The company, along with WhiteHat Jr, is reportedly gearing up for launch in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Germany.
Byju’s is currently India’s second-most valuable startup, after e-commerce payment system and fintech company Paytm.
