QIA leads $150m round for India's Byju's
Indian educational technology developer Byju’s has raised $150 million in a funding round led by Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar.
Owl Ventures, a US-based VC firm focused on educational technology, also participated in the round, which reportedly values Byju's at around $5.75 billion. It represents Owl's first investment in India.
Founded in 2011, Byju's operates a range of services aimed at school children. Its signature tutorial app provides students from primary through high school with homework help and test and exam preparation in a range of subjects. The company claims to have 35 million registered students and 2.4 million paid subscribers worldwide.
In recent years Byju's has focused on international expansion, with several acquisitions aimed at enhancing its overseas presence. Earlier this year the company bought US-based education app developer Osmo in a deal worth $120 million; it previously purchased online tutoring sites TutorVista and Edurite from Pearson in 2017. Byju's also partnered with Disney this year to launch a new service aimed at children in grades 1-3.
"Indian edtech firms attracting interest from eminent investors demonstrates that India is pioneering the digital learning space globally," says Byju's founder and CEO Byju Raveendran (pictured) in a statement. "This partnership will support and strengthen our vision of creating and delivering personalized learning experiences to students, which will help us leverage our expertise in creating immersive tech-enabled learning programs for students in smaller cities, regions and newer markets."
Since its founding in 2011 Byju's has attracted investment from a variety of financial and strategic players. Its most recent round, a INR2.14 billion ($31 million) investment in March, was led by Tencent Holdings and General Atlantic, both of which participated in its $400 million funding round in December led by Naspers Ventures. Sequoia Capital, the International Finance Corporation, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative have also backed the company.
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