Education-technology company Byju’s announced on Thursday it has raised $200 million from Tiger Global Management, a New York-based investment firm.
The funding will raise Byju’s valuation to about $8 billion now, according to analysts. In July last year when the creator of a popular K-12 learning app raised $150 million in a funding round led by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the Qatar government’s sovereign wealth fund, the company was valued at about $5.5 billion. The valuation was much higher than $3.6 billion in 2018 when global Internet group Naspers infused $540 million in the company along with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
In the last one year, Byju’s has witnessed strong growth. It has over 42 million registered users and 3 million paid subscribers from both rural and urban areas in India. The average time a student spends on the app has increased from 64 minutes to 71 minutes a day from a year ago. The annual renewal rate is 85%, the company said in a statement.
In FY19, Byju’s almost tripled its revenue to ₹1,480 crore from a year ago and turned profitable. The company says it is on track to double its revenue to ₹3,000 crore in this fiscal.
The company is working on launching programmes in vernacular languages to increase its reach and is planning to launch online tutoring soon.
“While these are early days on how technology can enable better learning, there is tremendous potential in this segment to create a highly scalable and sustainable model that can equip and prepare the current generation for the unseen jobs of tomorrow. Learning is a space where sustainable long-term growth translates to a larger good. This space is therefore ripe for innovation to transform the future,” said Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO, Byju’s.
Started in 2015, Byju’s The Learning App is the leader in offering personalised learning programmes for school students in India besides competitive examinations such as JEE, NEET, CAT, and IAS.
In January 2019 Byju’s acquired U.S.-based Osmo, a maker of educational games, for $120 million. It was Byju’s first-ever purchase of a U.S. company. The acquisition was expected to boost Byju’s international plans for tech-enabled personalised learning solutions.
