Tencent invests in India's PE-backed Byju's
China’s Tencent Holdings has invested an undisclosed amount in Indian online education start-up Byju’s, whose PE backers include Verlinvest and Sequoia Capital.
Byju’s will use the new capital for acquisitions and to accelerate its product development cycle as it prepares to enter new markets. The company recently acquired online tutoring sites TutorVista and Edurite from Pearson, the former for its presence in the US and the latter for its large database of educational content.
Byju’s was founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran and is best known for its tutorial app, which targets students in grades K-12 with homework help and preparation for school tests as well as competitive exams. The company claims its app has been downloaded eight million times, and currently has over 400,000 annual paid subscribers with a 90% renewal rate.
The company has received several cash infusions over the last two years, with Sequoia investing $75 million in March 2016 alongside Belgium’s Sofina, and joining the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative – a vehicle established by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan – to invest $50 million in September. In addition, the International Finance Corporation invested $15 million last July and Verlinvest committed $30 million earlier this year.
Tencent has played an active role supporting India’s technology start-ups. Recent investments in the sector include a $175 million funding round for mobile messaging app Hike in August and a $55 million Series D round for healthcare app Practo.
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