Byju’s in talks to raise $30 m from Brussels’ Verlinvest
BENGALURU: Education technology startup Byju’s (Think and Learn Pvt Ltd) is in advanced talks to raise $30 million from Brusselsbased family office Verlinvest, in a move that will give the company significant firepower to expand its business, two people aware of the development said.
“Verlinvest is coming in at a higher valuation than the last round, at about $600 million. Byju’s is one of the few education technology startups to have scaled significantly in the last 18 months, which has helped the company stoke interest in global investment firms,” said one of the two people cited above on condition of anonymity.
Verlinvest, founded in 1995, manages assets of over $1.4 billion, according to its website. The firm has invested in consumer companies in sectors such as digital and e-commerce, food and beverages, retail and hospitality and education. Its investments in India include winemaker Sula Vineyards, speciality food maker Veeba Food Services Pvt Ltd, Drums Food International Pvt Ltd, the maker of Hokey Pokey ice-cream and Future Consumer Enterprise Ltd.
Byju’s confirmed the development, but did not comment on the quantum of funds and valuation.
“Our partnership with Verlinvest will further boost our aspiration to change the way students learn across the globe. In the last 18 months, we have witnessed exponential growth in India. While these numbers are very exciting, there is a long way to go before we can call it a revolution. The fact that we are still reaching to less than 1% of the student population, shows the immense potential and the impact we can create,” founder Byju Raveendran said in a statement.
Byju’s latest fundraising comes after investment in Indian startups plummeted by almost one-third last year from the heydays of 2015 and 2014, when venture capital firms queued up to invest at high valuations.
According to a report by KPMG and CB Insights, Indian startups raised $3.3 billion in 2016 across 859 deals, as against $8.2 billion across 890 deals in the previous year.
To be sure, Byju’s has been one of the few growth stage startups to have raised multiple rounds of funds in 2016, apart from food tech startup Swiggy (Bundl Technologies Pvt Ltd). The company, founded by Byju Raveendran in November 2011, has so far raised close to $200 million in equity and debt funding since inception.
Byju’s provides learning programmes for class VI to XII students and preparation programmes for competitive examinations such as JEE, CAT, IAS, GRE and GMAT, among others.