Indian education startup Byju’s has announced that it has raised $50 million (approximately Rs 333 crore) in a funding round led by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic organisation headed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, Mint reported on Friday. Existing investors such as Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Times Internet Ltd also participated in the round. This is the Initiative’s first Asian investment.
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative representative Vivian Wu, who will join Byju’s board, said that the investment represents “an opportunity to help even more students develop a love for learning and unlock their potential”. Byju’s owner Byju Raveendran added that his company is using the funding to “get a good partner on board” who will help it “connect with the international market”. Raveendran further said that Byju’s has started “developing products” for markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom and expects to complete within twelve to fifteen months.
The latest investment in the Bengaluru-based startup comes just five months after it secured $75 million (approximately Rs 499 crore), The Hindu reported. It has now raised over $150 million (approximately Rs 999 crore) in funding and recorded revenues of Rs 120 crore in 2015-’16. The company claims to have 2,50,000 paid annual subscribers and says mobile applications have been downloaded over 5.5 million times in the last one year.
The fresh round of funding for Byju’s comes as education technology startups see a rise in their popularity, both among consumers and investors. In August, online learning startup Unacademy raised $1 million (approximately Rs 6.7 crore) in a round participated in by Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal as well as Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma. Startup tracker Traxcn says the sector saw around $28 million (approximately Rs 186 crore) in funding in 2014, with 47 agreements worth $74.7 million (approximately Rs 497 crore) being struck in 2015, Mint reported.
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