Byju's raises $540 Mn led by Naspers at $3.6 Bn estimated valuation

Within a week of various speculations over funding and valuation, edtech Unicorn Byju's has lifted the curtain on its latest fundraising. The Bengaluru-based firm has scooped up $540 million in a fresh round led by Naspers.

On the lines of earlier report, Canadian pension fund CPPIB also participated in the round, making the ten-year-old firm a $3.6 billion valued startup and paves the way to get entry into top five Unicorns in the country.

The fresh investment takes Byju's total funding to $775 million from bluechip investors including Tencent, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Times Internet, General Atlantic, IFC, and Lightspeed Ventures.

The firm will use proceeds towards overseas expansion particularly in English speaking markets such as the UK, the US, and Australia. It already has operations in the Middle East and some African countries.

Besides, a significant amount of raised capital will also be used for a secondary share purchase, mostly by General Atlantic, reports ET.

Now, the three-member founded company i.e. Byju Raveendran, his wife Divya Gokulnath and brother Riju hold about 38 per cent stake worth $1.29 billion in it.

The company claims to grow at 100 per cent annually for the last three years and recently crossed Rs 100 crore in monthly revenue. This is a big leap for the company which concluded FY17 with Rs 250 crore in revenue.

For FY18, it was likely to cross Rs 550 crore and aims to reach Rs 1,400 crore in revenue for the current fiscal. It's yet to file last year financials with MCA.

Byju’s offers learning programmes for class 4-12 & test preparation for JEE, AIPMT, CAT, IAS, GRE & GMAT and it competes directly or remotely with Unacademy, Edureka, Onlinetyari, Simplilearn, and Meritnation.