Byju’s has mastered the art of fundraising and continuing its scoring streak, the Bengaluru-based firm has raised $ 500 million in fresh funding led by Silver Lake.
This is the fifth installment of its Series F round and Byju’s has so far raised over $ 1 billion in 2020, making it the only internet company to raise more than $ 1 billion this year.
The new tranche came within a week of a $ 122 million infusion from DST Global. Existing investors Tiger Global, General Atlantic and Owl Ventures also participated in the latest increase, according to a statement from Byju’s.
Enter had exclusively reported about the DST Global-Byju deal.
So far, Byju is ongoing The Series F round has been spread across five tranches, including an infusion of $ 200 million each from Tiger Global and General Atlantic. DST, BOND Capital and Silverlake led the remaining three tranches. According to Bloomberg report, the company has been valued at $ 10.8 billion for new financing.
The edtech startup was valued at $ 10 billion during his last fundraiser, according to Fintrackr. Since March, it has raised $ 645 million in three tranches in its Series F round.
Apart from these mega investment deals, Byju’s had announced the acquisition of WhiteHat Jr for $ 300 million earlier this month, one of the largest acquisitions in India’s startup ecosystem in 2020. The company is also in advanced talks for taking over the doubts clearing platform Doubtnut in a cash settlement worth more than $ 100 million.
The coronavirus pandemic has led to a surge in demand for educational technology solutions in India. Since the closure, Byju’s claims to have seen more than 20 million new students learning on its platform for free. Additionally, the company also claimed to have onboard more than 64 million registered students and 4.2 million paid subscriptions annually.
Driven by increased usage and a massive change in learning habits, educational technology companies have witnessed increased interest from venture capital firms. Unacademy recently became a unicorn with a $ 200 million infusion from SoftBank, while Vedantu was valued at $ 510 million in its $ 100 million Series D round led by Coatue Management.
ClassPlus is on its last leg to close a $ 15 million round by Falcon Edge. Cuemath, backed by Google, is also in talks to raise new funds from new and existing investors.
