Byju's valued at $10.8 billion after raising fresh fund

Byju’s, the education startup, has bagged an amount of $500 million in a new funding round led by US-based private equity firm Silver Lake. As per news source, the existing investors like Tiger Global, General Atlantic and Owl Ventures, also participated in this fresh round of funding. The fresh funding values Byju’s at $10.8 billion.

Earlier, the company raised $1 billion in funding this year, including $200 million each from Tiger Global and General Atlantic, $122 million funding from tech billionaire Yuri Milner-led DST Global and $100 million from US technology investor Bond.

Founded by Byju Raveendran in the year 2011, Byju's has 62 million registered users and 4.2 million paid subscribers. During coronavirus-lockdown, the online learning platform added over 20 million new students for free. It also tripled its revenue from Rs 520 crore to Rs 1,480 crore in FY18-19, and turned profitable on a full-year basis. The company expects to double its revenue to Rs 3,000 crore in the current financial year.

Last month, Byju's had acquired edtech startup WhiteHat Jr. for $300 million to expand its reach in the country. Established in 2018 by Karan Bajaj, the former CEO of Discovery Networks India, WhiteHat Jr. had raised about $11 million from Omidyar Network, Owl Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners. It provides online coding classes to school-going students in India and the US.