The investment by CZI, the philanthropic arm of the online social media network Facebook’s co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, is its first in an Asian firm.
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Online education start-up BYJU’s has raised United States dollars 50 million (about USD 332.3 crore) from a clutch of investors, led by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) and Sequoia Capital.
“But our worldwide plans will be accelerated because we have much bigger bandwidth, and if there are some special companies which can help us accelerate that process we would be looking at acquisitions”, said founder & CEO Raveendran, declining to comment on the valuation.
Vivian Wu, who manages Zuckerberg’s education venture, will join BYJU’s board.
“If that is true then this is a business which has got a valuation which is beyond revenues and EBITDA (a measure of operating profit), but based on the scarcity of consumer-oriented businesses in the space and potential that this can be a victor takes all situation”, said Sandeep Aneja, who runs an education-focussed private equity fund Kaizen. Indians work hard to give their children a better education and BYJUs represents and opportunity to help even more students develop a better future.
The app has crossed more than 5.5 million downloads and 250,000 annual paid subscribers, the company added. “We are amazed by their continued growth and are excited to be part of their journey”.
The fund recently lead a $24 million round in Andela, a Nigeria-based company that trains and deploys software developers.
The new round, which comes within months of a Dollars 75 million fund raise from Sequoia Capital and Sofina, will be deployed to fuel global expansion in countries like the U.S. and the UK. “That’s why Byju’s products are built in ways that inspire children to take initiative and learn on their own”, Raveendran said. The app helps in effective learning programmes for students from classes 4 to 12 and competitive exams like JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS, GRE and GMAT. Launched in 2015, BYJU’s has become the most loved and preferred education app for students across age groups. “In a high impact segment like education, the real satisfaction is not in creating a multi-million dollar company, but in changing the way millions think and learn”. Raveendran was born to parents who were both teachers and hails from Azhikode, a small village in Kerala.
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