Byju’s, an India-based online education provider backed by corporates Prosus and Tencent, is looking to secure as much as $400m in funding at a $10bn valuation, TechCrunch reported on Friday.
The money would form part of an ongoing round, which saw the company raise $200m from Tiger Global Management in January 2020 and additional capital from General Atlantic a month later.
Reports at the time suggested General Atlantic’s commitment was also worth $200m, but TechCrunch said in its latest article that the round stood at $300m to $350m currently. Byju’s was valued at $8bn as of the February transaction.
Byju’s runs a mobile app for students in primary and secondary education to study, track their progress and take adaptive tests. The service has seen a spike in use during lockdown, adding six million users in March 2020.
Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, led a $150m round in July 2019 that valued Byju’s at $5.75bn and also featured Owl Ventures.
Naspers Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of internet group Naspers that has since been spun off as Prosus, led a $540m financing round consisting of primary and secondary funding in 2018.
The 2018 round included Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and General Atlantic.
Byju’s had earlier collected a total of $244m, including $40m from internet group Tencent in 2017 and $50m from media group Bennett Coleman & Co’s Times Internet division in 2016.
The company’s shareholders also include Verlinvest, International Finance Corporation, Sequoia Capital, Sofina and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Lightspeed Venture Partners was an early backer of Byju’s, but no longer lists the business in its portfolio.
