Byju’s raises $800 Mn at $22 Bn valuation; founder infuses $400 Mn

Edtech major Byju’s has raised $800 million in a new round in which the Bengaluru-based company’s founder and CEO Byju Raveendran invested $400 million.

The round saw participation by investors Sumeru Ventures, Vitruvian Partners and BlackRock at an estimated valuation of $22 billion, making it the most valued startup from India.

As per media reports, Raveendran’s stake in the company has been increased to 25%. Before this round, the holding stake of promoters at Byju’s was estimated at 22.55% per Fintrackr’s estimates. The company is also in discussions for a $1 billion pre-IPO round.

Byju’s had raised its last tranche at an estimated valuation of $18 billion.

Byju's claims to have over 150 million learners on its platform with an annual renewal rate of 86%. While the company did not disclose its latest financials, it registered an 82.31% surge in revenue from operations to Rs 2,381 crore in FY20. During the period, its losses jumped 30-fold to Rs 262 crore. 

Importantly, the company was close to hitting profitability in FY19.

Apart from the fundraising spree, Byju’s has also spent around  $2.5 billion acquiring around half a dozen startups. Aakash Educational Services was the largest deal for the company, in which it spent around $1 billion. The company also shelled out around $600 million for Great Learning and $500 million for US-based Epic, a reading platform. The company recently acquired recruitment platform Superset via Great Learning.