Online tutoring startup Byju’s is the latest Indian ‘unicorn’ going global

• Byju’s, India’s largest online tutoring startup and a recent entrant to the ‘unicorn club’, is looking to expand to international markets with the its latest acquisition of US-based Osmo.
  
• The acquisition comes just a month after Byju’s received fresh funding of $540 million that valued the company at $3.6 billion.
  
• Other Indian unicorns testing international markets include Zomato, OYO rooms, PayTm.
  

Byju’s, one of India’s largest online tutoring startups and a recent entrant to the ‘unicorn club’ -- startups valued at $1 billion and above-- is the latest to set its eyes on expansion into international markets

Its $120 million acquisition of Osmo, a US-based startup that makes educational games, is aimed at improving learning experience for kids by blending online tutoring through apps with offline games.

The acquisition of Osmo comes just a month after Byju’s received fresh funding of $540 million that valued the company at $3.6 billion. Byju’s, founded in 2015, is also now the fourth most valuable startup in India.

Byju’s had been planning overseas expansion for a long time by collaborating with partners in the UK, Singapore and Australia, among others. The deal is expected to benefit both companies since Byju’s was seeking to also become a ‘content-driven platform’ aimed at a younger audience — kids of three to seven years of age are Osmo’s target market. While Byju’s apps mostly target school kids across grades 4-12

Byju’s eponymous founder Byju Raveendran told Crunchbase the company currently has over 1,000 people dedicated to video and game development.

Other Indian unicorns in the league eyeing global expansion

India’s growing unicorns are now aggressively looking to test overseas markets, keen to have a global presence, and many have already seen some success.

The homegrown food delivery unicorn, Zomato, expanded internationally in 2012, starting with Dubai. Since then, the company has grown multifold with an array of acquisitions. In fact, Swiggy has been considering offshore expansion as well, but is currently focussed on hyperlocal services.

Bucking the general trend of international companies expanding in the Indian market last year, digital wallets company PayTm launched its payments app ‘PayPay’ in Japan.

The hotel chain, OYO rooms, has also had a great year in terms of international investments. The company forayed into China, Japan, Spain and the UK among others. The company, with its offshore expansion, is looking to have nearly 2.3 million rooms internationally by 2023.

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