Byju’s has raised $1.3 billion this year so far in pursuit of its American dream

• Byju’s has raised $296 million in a round led by Oxshott Venture Fund.
• The development comes about a week after Byju’s raised a $150 million, at a valuation of $16.8 billion.
• Both these transactions are a part of the company’s Series F round.

Edtech giant Byju’s, which raised over a billion dollars last year to fulfil its American dream, has raised an additional ₹2,200 crore ($296 million) funding. With this, the company has raised $1.29 billion in 2021 so far.

According to the ministry of corporate affairs filings, the latest tranche is a part of ongoing Series F round, which is led by Oxshott Venture Fund. Five other investors participated in the round as well.

The decade-old Byju’s is allocating 77,2174 Series F compulsory convertible cumulative preference shares (CCPS) at a premium of ₹ 2,85,062.


The latest transaction was first reported by Inc42.

The development comes about a week after Byju’s raised a $150 million, at a valuation of $16.8 billion.

Byju’s declined to comment on the latest infusion.

According to media reports published last month, Byju’s has been in talks to raise $1.5 billion at a valuation of over $21 billion valuation. The latest investment is expected to be the first tranche of the larger billion dollar round.

Founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath, Byju’s is the highest valued edtech startup in the world. It is also the highest valued Indian startup at the moment.

The company’s operations were largely based out of India until last year, but after onboarding 100 million users here it decided to venture into the international arena. Thus began the edtech giant’s massive acquisition spree.

Byju’s has acquired about one startup every month of 2021, in order to fuel its international expansion and strengthen its core operations.

Anita Kishore, the head of strategy at Byju's, told Business Insider that international markets would make a third of the company’s revenue in the next three to four years. The USA would be dominating the international market for Byju's.


Why focus on American market?

Byju’s is planning to focus on the American market, as it is the biggest edtech market outside of India. Besides, the company feels that the fact most of their products are available in English is going to be another added advantage.

"The other advantage that US marketing gives us is the fact that it is English speaking, right? A lot of our products, while you know, they need to be customised, and so on. Given the language is English, we are able to actually scale those products well, with teams in India. Hence, the US has been a key market for us,” Kishore added in a previous conversation with Business Insider.

This year, Byju’s has acquired US-based Epic, Tynker and Whodat, along with Singapore-based Great Learning. The company made its first American acquisition in 2019, with educational games maker Osmo.

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