With online classes gaining significant prominence amid the lockdown, edtech startup Byju’s has raised $122 million from DST Global, a fund floated by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. First reported by Entrackr, this is part of its ongoing Series F funding round. Byju’s is reportedly looking to raise a total $400 million in the current fund-raising round.
Post this funding, DST Global will hold a 1.2% stake in Byju’s, Entrackr reported.
An Economic Times report quotes filings with Ministry of Corporate Affairs as showing that Byju's has allotted 42,666 Series F preference shares to DST Global for Rs 908.9 crore.
Prior to this, noted investor Mary Meeker’s firm Bond Capital invested $23 million last month in Byju’s at a valuation of $10.5 billion.
This comes close on the heels of Byju’s parent company Think and Learn acquiring Mumbai-based WhiteHat Jr in a $300 million all-cash transaction. WhiteHat Jr operates in the K-12 segment, where it teaches children to code, and develop games, animations and apps, using the fundamentals of coding. The company is also looking to foray into international markets such as the US.
In terms of raising funds, Byju’s has so far raised $545 million this year as part of its Series F round, which also includes funding from Tiger Global and General Atlantic, which valued the startup at over $8 billion.
With schools remaining to be shut in India, online education has become extremely popular and edtech startups have been an exponential increase in demand. As a result, investors too are flocking edtech startups to reap the benefits of the current demand for this space. Last week, ET reported that another player in this segment Unacademy was in talks to raise $150 million from SoftBank.
Another Edtech company LEAD School, which helps schools digitize their curriculum, raised $28 million in a Series C funding round led by Westbridge Capital and existing investor Elevar Equity.
Toppr, in July, raised $50 million, while Vedantu raised $100 million.