Edtech giant Byju’s is raising Rs 2,200 crore in a fresh round of funding led by Oxshott Venture Fund, reports said based on company findings. The Series F round will also see the participation of Edelweiss’s Crossover Opportunities Fund, Verition Multi-Strategy Master Fund, IIFL Private Equity Fund, XN Exponent Holdings, and MarketX Ventures.
As per company filings, reports stated that the Oxshott Venture Fund is likely to inject Rs 1,200 crore, Edelweiss will invest Rs 345 crore, XN Exponent Holdings Rs 150 crore, Verition Multi-Strategy Master Fund Rs 147 crore, IIFL Rs 111 crore and MarketX Ventures will invest Rs 144 crore.
This comes a few weeks after the edtech firm raised $150 million (Rs 1,093.98 crore) in funding from a host of investors led by Asmaan Ventures. Reports said that Mirae Asset, MACM India Growth Fund and ARK Ncore also participated in the investment round. This round reportedly valued the company at around $16.87 billion.
In September, Byju’s had announced the acquisition of Gradeup, one of India's largest online exam preparation platforms, which marked the edtech unicorn’s eighth acquisition this year. Byju’s indicated that Gradeup will be rebranded as Byju's Exam Prep and will cater to students preparing for exams in categories covering government jobs and PG entrance exams such as IAS, GATE, CAT, Bank PO/Clerk, Defence, UGC-NET.
Byju’s said the partnership is likely to strengthen its presence in the online competitive examination preparation category besides harnessing Gradeup’s pedagogy and student reach.
Byju’s has been on an acquisition spree in 2021, with the edtech firm having spent over $2 billion in mergers and acquisitions this year alone. In August, it acquired AR and computer vision startup Whodat, and its other key acquisitions this year include Aakash Educational Services for around $1 billion, Great Learning for $600 million, Toppr for $150 million, and US-based Epic for $500 million.