India’s largest online learning service is all set to become the 4th highest valued Indian startup with a ₹254 billion valuation

• India’s largest online tutoring startup Byju’s is expected to become 4th most valued startup in the country after Paytm, Ola Cabs and OYO Rooms.
  
  
• The company’s valuation is expected to be raised to ₹254 billion ($3.5 billion) by the end of the funding round with the company adding $200-300 million to its portfolio.
  
  
• The company has successfully got blue- chip investors including the private equity giant General Atlantic.
  

India’s largest online learning startup Byju’s (Think & Learn Pvt Ltd) is all set to be the 4th most valued Indian startup. It’s in the middle of a new funding round that’s expected to raise ₹14.5 million to ₹ 22 million ($200-300 million) from new investors including General Atlantic, a private equity giant.

The influx of new funds are expected to increase the company’s value to ₹245 billion ($3.5 billion) making it the fourth highest valued company in the league after digital payments company Paytm, cab service provider Ola and budget hotel chain OYO Rooms.

Sources close to these developments have said that private equity has inflated the valuation of the start up to an amount higher than what was expected at first. The secondary valuation is expected to happen at a lower amount since the existing investors, such as Sequoia Capital, may release a certain part of its shares or consider exiting the company altogether.

Last month, the edutech startup closed the funding round gushing $100 million with the valuation reaching $2 billion mark already. It looks like the overpowering interest of the investors in the startup has lead to a valuation higher than anticipated post the closing round.

Byju’s story so far

Byju’s has been one of the fastest growing tech startups in India. The company raised around $30 million from Verlinvest followed by $40 million from Tencent Holdings Ltd in July 2017, as reported by Mint.

So far, the startup has exceeded the investor expectations with its growth trajectory. The company that was originally just an offline teaching centre in Bengaluru, slowly expanded its operations online with the launch of its first app in 2015. The tutoring startup also plans to come up with apps for younger students soon.

The company also acquired Vidyartha, TutorVista and Edurite last year as a mark of its growth and is ready with its fourth acquisition Math Adventures this year.

By the end of FY18, the expectation is that Byju’s is only going get more lucrative. The company also claimed to have exceeded ₹100 crore monthly revenue this June and is looking forward to reach a mark of ₹1400 crore as the overall revenue.

Byju Raveendran, Chief Executive, communicated to the Economic Times that it is the fourth consecutive year that the startup has crossed 100% growth. Currently, the startup has a user base of 15 billion which includes a segment of paid users seeking education through online platforms.

(Photo credit: Startup Stories India)