NEW DELHI -- Indian education technology unicorn Byju's has raised $500 million in a fresh round of funding led by US-based private equity company Silver Lake, DealStreetAsia has confirmed. The latest round pushed the valuation of the Bengaluru-based online education company to $10.8 billion.
According to a statement released by Byju's, the round also drew existing investors, including Tiger Global, General Atlantic and Owl Ventures.
"We are fortunate to be in a sector of positive relevance during this crisis. This has brought online learning to the forefront and is helping parents, teachers and students experience and understand its value," said founder and CEO Byju Raveendran in a media statement. "Our classrooms are changing possibly for the first time in 100 years and I'm really excited about the opportunities that we have to redefine the future of learning."
In June, Byju's also added Mary Meeker's tech investment company Bond to its investors' list, reportedly at a valuation of about $10.5 billion. Other prominent investors in Byju's include Naspers, Mark Zuckerberg's Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Qatar Investment Authority, Lightspeed India Partners and Sequoia Capital.
"We are delighted to lead this investment and partner with Byju and his impressive team of education technology pioneers in their mission to help children in India and around the world achieve their true potential," said Silver Lake co-CEO Greg Mondre.
Launched in 2015, Byju's offers learning programs for K-12 students, besides helping older students with preparation for exams such as the JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS, GRE and GMAT.
Since pandemic-related lockdowns in March, Byju's says it has over 20 million new students using its platform for free. The company said its app currently has over 64 million registered students and 4.2 million annual paid subscriptions.
Byju's has also been active on the acquisition front. Last month, the company acquired Mumbai-based edtech startup WhiteHat Jr in an all-cash deal worth $300 million, marking its fifth acquisition to date. It also acquired US-based Osmo, a maker of educational games, for $120 million in January 2019.
The company has doubled revenue to 28 billion rupees in fiscal 2019 ended March from the previous year.
DealStreetAsia is a financial news site based in Singapore that focuses on corporate investment activity in Asia especially Southeast Asia and India. Nikkei owns a majority stake in the company.
