Online education startup Byju’s is set to raise $200 million in a fresh funding round from American investment firms BlackRock and T. Rowe Price at a valuation of $12 billion, said a person familiar with the matter.
The Bengaluru based firm had last raised 500 million dollars in September from a group of investors which included private equity firm Silver Lake Partners along with existing investors General Atlantic, Owl Ventures and Tiger Global at a valuation of 10.8 billion dollars.
BlackRock, Sand Capital and Alkeon Capital have hopped on the wagon as new investors, as part of the same round later, with valuation soaring up to 11.1 billion dollars.
BlackRock is an American global investment management corporation, which was initially founded in 1988 as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, and today is the world’s largest asset manager, with $7.4 trillion in assets under management as of end-Q4 2019.
T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. is an American publicly owned global investment management firm that offers funds, advisory services, account management, and retirement plans and services for individuals, institutions, and financial intermediaries.
Byju’s has recently seen a spike in investor interest which has won Byju’s the honour of being India’s second most valuable startup, also earning it the decacorn status-the handful of startups that are valued at more than 10 million dollars.
Since January Byju’s valuation has increased by 35% when it first raised 200 million dollars in equity funding from New York based hedge fund Tiger Global Management. Since the lockdown over 25 million new students have registered on the platform.
The app has over 73 million registered students and 5.1 million annual paid subscriptions. It has also designed an online tutoring program to serve the after-school needs of students. Learning programs in vernacular languages are also offered by Byju’s now.
