Exclusive: Byju’s set to raise $700 Mn at $15 Bn valuation

Byju’s fundraising spree isn’t over. After mopping up over $1 billion in 2020, the company is in late-stage talks with a clutch of investors to raise a new round. According to three Entrackr sources, it’s close to raising around $600-700 million from new and existing investors.

“The new investors joining the round are from the Middle East and the US. Existing investors would also participate in the round that would majorly be used to finance acquisitions of Aakash Educational Services,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity as talks are private.

Byju’s has been in talks with Aakash since January and is keen to shell out up to $1 billion for acquiring the 33 years old coaching institute for Engineering and Medical entrance examinations. According to sources, the acquisition is likely to be materialised over the next few weeks.

This would be the first financing round for the Bengaluru-based company in 2021. Last November, it had reportedly raised $200 million from BlackRock and T Rowe Price.  

“Byju’s will be valued close to $15 billion in this round,” said another person who also requested anonymity. If the deal goes through, Byju’s valuation would jump 25% within five months. The fresh infusion would also narrow the gap between the valuation of Byju's and Paytm’s. Paytm was valued at $16 billion in its $1 billion funding round in Nov 2019.

Byju's declined to comment on the story.

Aakash would be the third major acquisition by Byju’s in the past two years. In 2019, it acquired US-based Osmo for $120 million. In its largest deal ever, the company had acquired WhiteHat Jr in a $300 million all-cash deal. 

The company is also in late-stage talks to acquire Toppr for $150 million. Entrackr had exclusively reported the potential deal in February.

While Byju’s is yet to file an annual financial statement for FY20, it claimed to have crossed the Rs 2,800 crore revenue mark in the last fiscal year. As of September 2020, it had 70 million students on the platform of which 4.5 million were paid subscribers.