Byju’s valuation vaults past $13 billion with latest funding round

Edtech decacorn Byju’s has raised Rs 3,328 crore (around $460 million as per current exchange rates) as part of a funding round, dubbed Series F, led by MC Global Edtech Investment Holdings LP. The latest infusion takes the Bengaluru based firm’s post-money valuation to a little over $13 billion, regulatory filings showed.  

The other investors who participated in this round include B Capital, Baron Global Advantage Fund, XN Exponent Holding, Arison Holdings, TCDS (India), and TIGA (India), according to the filings. 

Think & Learn, the company that owns and operates Byju’s, has approved the allotment of 1,40,233 Series F CCPS at a face value of Rs 10 and a premium of Rs 2,37,326 per share to raise the sum. 

Of the nine investors in the round, MC Global Edtech Investment Holdings LP invested Rs 1,628 crore ($224 million), almost half of the total tranche.  

B Capital, with its global and Asia subsidiaries, committed around Rs 560 crore ($77 million). Asset management firm Baron Emerging Market Fund and Baron Global Advantage Fund collectively invested Rs 581 crore ($80 million). New York-based hedge fund XN Exponent Holdings, run by Gaurav Kapadia, infused Rs 298 crore ($41.5 million). Arison Holdings invested Rs 108 crore ($15 million) and TCDS India LP has put in Rs 104 crore ($14 million). 

Following this transaction, MC Global and B Capital will hold 1.73% and 0.59% stakes respectively in the company.  

Also, the shareholding of the promoter group in the company, which includes founder and CEO Byju Raveendran and his family, has been diluted to 26.09%. 

Email queries from TechCircle on the latest funding round went unanswered at the time of publishing this report. 

In September last year, the edtech raised $500 million at a valuation of $10.8 billion from a clutch of investors including private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, along with existing investors General Atlantic, Owl Ventures and Tiger Global.  

In August last year, Byju Raveendran said that the company was in a comfortable position to do an initial public offering (IPO), but was yet to firm up a timeline. According to media reports, the company will use the funds to finance acquisitions, meet working capital requirements and business expansion.  

Byju’s has also been on an acquisition spree lately. After the much-hyped White Hat Jr. acquisition in August last year, it bought out 3D virtual lab tools provider, LabInApp Technology in September. The company was also reportedly in talks to acquire edtech firms Akaash Educational Services and Toppr. 

Byju’s claims to have 50 million registered students and 3.5 million annual paid subscribers on its platform.