General Atlantic invests in Byju’s
BENGALURU: New York-based private equity firm General Atlantic Service Co. Lp has infused fresh capital into Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd, which runs educational technology platform Byju’s, the edtech company said on Friday.
General Atlantic, an existing investor in Byju’s, will pump in around $200 million in the round, one person familiar with the startup’s operations said, requesting anonymity.
The startup is also in talks with more investors for the ongoing round, including Tiger Global Management Llc, which had backed Byju’s with $200 million at a valuation of more than $8 billion in January. A Byju’s spokesperson declined to comone ment on the talks.
In 2018, General Atlantic pumped in around ₹410 crore for a 3.85% stake in the company, according to data sourced from business information platform Paper.vc.
“General Atlantic has been of our strongest partners and this additional investment shows their confidence in our vision, growth and future. We are happy to see an ever increasing acceptance for our learning programmes in small towns across the country,” Byju’s founder and chief executive Byju Raveendran said in a statement.
Since its launch in 2011, Byju’s has raised around $995 million from Naspers Ltd, Tencent Holdings Ltd, Verlinvest Group SA, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia Capital India, Lightspeed India Partners, and Aarin Capital, among others.
In July 2019, Byju’s also secured $150 million in a round led by Qatar Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
The edtech startup offers learning content on its app and web platform. The programmes have been designed to cater to students across age groups, from kindergarten to higher secondary classes.
The app is aimed at students for a variety of programmes, including competitive exams such as the Common Aptitude Test and the Indian Administrative Services.
The cost of its online courses range from ₹5,000 to ₹1 lakh.
It has around 42 million registered users, and another three million paid subscribers. Byju’s said it had turned profitable in the fiscal year ended 31 March 2019, with revenue tripling yearon-year to ₹1,480 crore.
However, including its subsidiaries, the company still recorded a net loss of ₹15 crore in FY19, compared with a loss of ₹37 crore in the previous fiscal year.