Byju's raises $460 million in latest funding; valuation rises to over $13 billion

Edtech startup Byju's has raised $460 million in the latest round of Series F funding, taking its total fundraising to $1 billion in FY21. The latest funding round was led by MC Global Edtech Investment Holdings LP. Total 140,233 Series F CCPS (compulsorily convertible preference shares) at a face value of Rs 10 and a premium of Rs 2,37,326 per share were allotted, Entrackr, a platform that tracks start-ups, reported citing regulatory filings. With this funding, the edtech startup's valuation has crossed $13 billion.

Apart from MC Global, eight other investors, including B Capital ($77 million), Baron Emerging Market Fund ($80 million), XN Exponent Holdings ($1.5 million), Arison Holdings ($15 million) and TCDS India ($14 million), have pumped in money in the homegrown decacorn. The latest funding is part of BYJU's plan to raise about $700 million from new and existing investors in order to achieve a $15 billion valuation target.

Also Read: How BYJU's pivoted its business model from offline to online

The latest funding has led to a reduction in the company stake of the founder Byju Raveendran and family to 26.9 per cent.

The Bengaluru-based edtech firm has seen a substantial rise in its valuation due to the ongoing pandemic as education has, to a large extent, moved online with schools and colleges being closed to further stem the coronavirus spread.

In November 2020, Byju's had raised $200 million in a funding round from private equity (PE) players BlackRock and T Rowe Price. This elevated the online education startup's valuation to $12 billion, around $1 billion more since the earlier round in September where it raised $500 million from a group of investors comprising PE firm Silver Lake Partners, Tiger Global, General Atlantic, and Owl Ventures at a valuation of $10.8 billion.

During the lockdown period, the startup witnessed stellar growth adding over 25 million new students to its platform. As of date, the app had more than 70 million registered students as well as 4.5 million annual paid subscriptions.

Also Read: This is the 2nd most-valued ed-tech company in India after Byju's

Besides, the renewed investor interest also propelled the company into India's second-most valuable startup, also earning it a decacorn status. A decacorn is a firm valued at over $10 billion.

With the latest funding round, Byju's has further narrowed its valuation gap with digital payments platform Paytm, which presently enjoys a valuation of $16 billion, as per the Hurun India Unicorn Index 2020.

Also read: Edtech firm Byju's raises $200 million in fresh funding; valuation swells to $12 billion