According to data released by research firm Tofler, BYJU’S latest round of funding is set to value the company at $18 billion. The largest EdTech firm of India is set to raise $296 million (INR 2200 crore) from a clutch of investors that includes Edelweiss Private Investments Trust, IIFL, Verition Multi Strategy Master Fund, Oxshott Venture Fund, MarketX Ventures, and XN Exponent Holdings.
The company will allot 77,174 Series F compulsory convertible cumulative preference shares (CCPS) at a premium price of INR 2,85,062 as informed to the Corporate Affairs Ministry.
As per the company’s filings, Oxshott Venture Fund will get 42,095 shares at an investment of INR 1200 crores as a majority shares holder. Edelweiss is the next largest investor at 345 crores, followed by XN Exponent Holdings at 150 crores. The other investors Verition, MarketX Ventures, and IIFL, will invest Rs 147 crore, 144 crore, and 111 crores, respectively.
This round of funding has come only after a few weeks of earlier funding of $150 million from investors Asmaan Ventures, ARK Ncore, and Mirae Asset, along with others.
The last two rounds of investments come on the heels of the company acquiring Tynker, a US-based coding start-up, for approximately $200 million in September. In 2021, BYJU’S have already spent more than $2 billion in M&A deals. Since its inception, the EdTech giant has acquired 15 companies in the Education Technology space, with nine of them coming in 2021 alone.
Since the pandemic, BYJU’S has raised more than $1.8 billion, and a major portion of these funds have been utilized to acquire other firms. This includes the buyout of the high profile and one of the largest coaching institutes in India, Aakash Educational Services, for nearly $1 billion. Aakash coaches high school students and has 200+ centers.
It also acquired Great Learning, a professional upskilling platform, and Epic, a digital reading platform for kids, among others, for $ 1+ billion in cash plus stock deals. BYJU’S also acquired Gradeup, an online test prep platform, to strengthen its presence in the online competitive examination preparation, one of the fastest-growing segments in this category.
As per BYJU’S, it has 100+ million registered students, which includes 6.5 million paid subscribers on its various platforms. The company showed an 82.31% growth in its revenue in FY 2020 at Rs.2381 crores, up from Rs 1306 crore in the previous year.
The latest news from the company is that they are in talks with several investors for another $1.50 billion fund which will give the company a $21+ billion valuation. As per reports from the media, BYJU’S is looking to go public and will probably file the IPO papers in QTR 2 of 2022 that will catapult them into a $40 – $50 billion company.
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