Byju's looks to raise $250 million for global expansion, in talks with SoftBank, others
Popular startup in the edtech sector, Byju’s is now looking to expand its operation beyond Indian shores and is scouting for funding of around $200 million - $250 million for this purpose. Japan’s SoftBank Group, already having made heavy investments in India is diverse sectors could be the major investors if one went by the reports based on the talks held so far.
There is no official confirmation from either SoftBank or from Byju’s. It is also being mentioned that if this funding round does take place, Byju’s valuation might touch $2 billion.
Having developed its product offerings in the English language, Byju’s smells an immediate market for them in those countries where English is the main language spoken. These include, the UK, Australia and the US. Only the faculty has to be recruited locally which the company has been already doing.
In the Indian context, Byju’s has been focusing on classes VI to XII lower classes and will soon have a package for Levels 1 to 3, (K-3) in the trade parlance as well. The same may be carried to the new markets with suitable changes to suit the syllabus in the respective countries. Byju’s boasts of registration on its site of 20 million students, of which 1.26 million are paid subscribers. The company has also posted impressive financial figures clocking as high as 100% growth year-on-year. The annual revenue earned is around Rs 1,400 crore.
Byju’s offers simplified methods of teaching subjects to the students using visual presentations and graphics. The new plans to expand include its foray into the rural segments of the country and they have been recruiting heavily for this purpose.
In terms of funding raised by the startup, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Tencent, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sofina, Verlinvest, and Times Internet are all investors in Byju’s and the total funds they have put into the edtech startup so far is $244 million. Byju’s has made a number of acquisitions also on the way including Math Adventures, TurorVista, Edurite and Vidyartha.