Technology

Qatar Investment Authority leads $150-mn round in Byju's

Wed, 10 Jul 2019

Bengaluru, July 10

Bengaluru-based ed-tech company Byju's on Wednesday announced that it has received an investment of $150 million, led by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) - the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar.

This new round would support Byju'S' aggressive plans of international market expansion and creation of world-class learning products for students across the globe. This first-ever primary investment from QIA and Owl Ventures in India will aim at boosting innovation in the tech-enabled learning space, the company said in a statement.

"We are happy to have strong partners like QIA and Owl Ventures on board with us. Investment from prominent sovereign and pension funds validates our strong business fundamentals. Indian ed-tech firms attracting interest from eminent investors demonstrates that India is pioneering the digital learning space globally," said Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO, Byju's.

"High adoption and 85 per cent annual renewal from small towns and cities shows the increasing acceptance of digital learning as a primary tool for learning at home. This partnership will support and strengthen our vision of creating and delivering personalised learning experiences to students.

"This will also help us explore and leverage our expertise in creating immersive tech-enabled learning programs for students in smaller cities, regions and newer markets," he added.

Recently, the company launched a whole new learning experience for younger children in Classes 1-3 with Disney Byju's Early Learn App. Transforming the offline to an online learning experience, the company has also acquired Osmo, a Palo Alto-based education game-making company.

The firm tripled its revenue to Rs 1,430 crore in FY 18-19 and also turned profitable on a full-year basis. It has already crossed Rs 200 crore in monthly revenue and is estimating revenue of over Rs 3,000 crore this year.