Edtech firm Byju's adds BlackRock, Sands Capital and Alkeon Capital to cap table

Think & Learn, the company that owns and operates online learning platform Byju’s, said on Tuesday that it has raised an undisclosed sum in a funding round from New York headquartered asset manager BlackRock, Washington-based Sands Capital and New York hedge fund Alkeon Capital.

New York-based private equity firm General Atlantic, San Francisco, California-based venture capital firm Owl Ventures and New York headquartered alternative investments firm Tiger Global Management are returning investors in the round, a statement said.

“We are excited to welcome Blackrock, Sands Capital and Alkeon as our partners. As we continue to create engaging and personalised learning solutions, partnerships like these reaffirm our commitment to build and transform the global learning landscape through technology, innovation and quality pedagogy,” founder and CEO Byju Raveendran said.

The edtech decacorn has raised six rounds of funding in quick succession this year. A decacorn refers to a privately held startup valued at $10 billion or more.

The latest additions to its cap table come weeks after Menlo Park, California headquartered private equity firm Silver Lake Partners bought an undisclosed stake in the Bengaluru-based edtech company. The $500 million round reportedly valued Byju’s at $10.8 billion.

Since the national lockdown on account of the Covid-19 pandemic, growth has surged for edtech firms such as Byju’s and Unacademy leading to an influx of private capital into the segment.

Byju’s claims it has added over 25 million new students on its platform since the lockdown and currently has more than 70 million registered students and 4.5 million annual paid subscriptions.

In early August, it also acquired Mumbai based online coding platform WhiteHat Jr in a $300 million all cash deal, right before raising about $122 million from DST Global, the investment firm headed by billionaire Yuri Milner.

It also raised capital from Bond, the growth equity investment firm founded by former Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker, in June. In February, Byju’s received $200 million from General Atlantic. In January, it secured a similar amount from Tiger Global Management.