Byju Raveendran is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the edtech startup, Byju. The company also happens to be India's second most valuable edtech company, reaching 57 million students across 1,700 cities.
In June, a funding round of $100 million led by Bond Capital drove the edtech company's valuation to $10.5 billion. Now Byju has announced an even more impressive funding round of $500 million. This now values the online learning platform at $10.8 billion. This latest round was led by Silver Lake, as well as existing investors Tiger Global, General Atlantic, and Owl Ventures.
“We are fortunate to be in a sector of positive relevance during this crisis. This has brought online learning to the forefront and is helping parents, teachers and students experience and understand its value,” Raveendran said in a statement. “Our classrooms are changing possibly for the first time in 100 years and I’m really excited about the opportunities that we have to redefine the future of learning.”
Founded in 2011, Byju offers preparatory services to students undertaking undergraduate and graduate courses. This includes tutors on the app, who have an innovative approach to complex subjects. Recently, the company expanded its services to all students attending any level of schooling.
The edtech market has proven unshakeable, despite the global pandemic, with many startups reporting massive growth. In April, the COVID-19 virus caused school closures in 190 countries, which impacted 90% of total enrolled learners, totaling almost 1.6 billion people globally. According to CNBC, edtech was a $107 billion market in 2015, but now the sector is expected to triple by 2025 to be worth upward of $350 billion. Additionally, analysts predict this growth will be led by Asia’s growing youth population.
During the global crisis, Byju has fast-tracked developments like live classes in localized languages, hoping to support students around the world and close the education gap. Since then, Byju has added 20 million new students to its platform. Now, their app has over 64 million registered students and 4.2 million annual paid subscriptions.
Byju also recently acquired coding education platform, WhiteHat Jr for $300 million. This follows the Indian edtech giant looking to expand into new markets, especially Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand.
