How Byju's became the world's most valued ed-tech firm

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Online education start-up Byju's revenue has touched Rs 1430 crore in March 2019.That's not all. The firm's valuation has soared by $2 bn to $5.5 bn in the series F funding round. It's a jump of nearly 53 per cent - an unprecedented record in a single round. With this fresh round of funding the company will be able to expand internationally, having already made its mark in the Indian market. An increase in the number of paid subscribers and the company's penetration into the Indian market are said to be the reasons behind its increase in revenue.

How did it start?

The foundation of Byju's was laid to fulfil the need for easy access to high quality education.

The company made its way into the Indian market through interactive videos and rich animations, making the learning a lot more understandable.
It all began in 2007, when Byju Raveendran was working as an engineer for a UK based firm in Bengaluru. He decided to extend his help to few of his friends prepare for the Common Admission Test. He wrote the exam as well along with his friends and scored 100 percentile in it. But, he chose to go back to his work, instead of studying further. He appeared again for the exam after two years bagging the same score. Byju, however,did not pursue an MBA and instead went on to help students crack CAT. He started conducting workshops.
The students appeared in huge numbers to attend his sessions. Finally, with the help of his students, he laid the foundation of company in 2011.

Education can be fun

India tops the chart for the largest K-12 education system in the world, but fails to measure up to global levels of education. Byju came up with new ways of concept learning for the students to overcome limited access to quality education.The big differentiator for Byju's is introducing innovation in learning. The idea was to make learning a fun experience through visuals and graphics, not limiting it to just theoretical concepts. The combination of technology and education allowed students to have a personalized learning experience from the best teachers. This not only improved their understanding, but made the concepts reside in their mind for a longer duration of time.

The challenges

The major challenge for the company in the initial days was to fulfil the manpower requirement to handle daily operations. They were unable to track the daily sales activities by sales managers, resulting in no details about the daily sales conversions. There was no system to keep a track of shipped, delivered and unfulfilled orders. The lack of a structure made it difficult for the finance department to keep a check on the finances.

The growth story

The company came into being in 2011 and bagged its first award for the fastest growing tech companies in India under Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India in October 2012.

In September 2013, it raised $9 million from Aarin Capital in series A round.

The tablet learning program was launched in 2014 which was specifically aimed at competitive exams and for classes 8 to 12.

In 2015 Byju's received a funding of $25 million by Sequoia Capital in series B round. In the month of August, Byju's launched a learning app. The app brought a crowd of more than two million students on the platform within three months

In 2016, it bagged a funding of $75 million from Sequoia Capital, $50 million from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and $15 million from International Finance Corporation in exchange for a minority stake.

The company reached to a valuation of $600 million in March 2017, with another funding of $30 million by Verlinvest.

By acquiring TutorVista and Edurite from Pearson in July 2017, it stepped into the international market. This increased the company's valuation to $670 million and brought around 2000 international teachers from US, China, Australia onboard.

Byju's joined hands with Shah Rukh Khan and made him its brand ambassador in November 2017.

The company reached a milestone valuation close to $800 million in March 2018.

Brand Ambassador ShahRukh Khan

Byju's joined hands with Shah Rukh Khan for an ad campaign in November 2017, on the occasion of Children's Day. The campaign was aimed at the fact that children express their love for learning when they have better understanding of the concept. It also conveyed the need to inspire children to learn on their own.

The partnership with Khan was aimed at winning over the country at large.

Valuation

Byju's made history in its ongoing Series F funding round. It saw its valuation rise to $5.5 billion earlier this month, a jump of nearly 53 per cent. Byju's had raised $540 million at a valuation of $3.6 billion from South African media giant Naspers, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and private equity giant General Atlantic to emerge as the country's fourth largest startup after Walmart-Flipkart, Paytm and Ola.

The company has so far raised Rs 3,159.4 crore ($460.8 million) in the Series F round, which includes $86 million that it raised in the first week of July at a valuation of $5.5 billion. It also saw new investors like Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar, and Owl Ventures. It has not only been growing at 100 per cent for the last three years but also turned profitable on a full year basis in FY19.

In April, the company boasted of over 35 million registered users and 2.4 million paid subscribers and crossed Rs 200 crore in monthly revenue. Byju's is now aiming for a revenue target of over Rs 3,000 crore in the current fiscal, up from Rs 1,430 crore.