India-based educational app developer Byju’s has begun talks with investors including telecommunications firm SoftBank to raise up to $250m in funding, the Economic Times reported yesterday citing sources familiar with the matter.
The company intends to raise between $200m and $250m at a valuation of about $2bn according to a source, who added that the discussions are still at an early stage.
Byju’s has created an app-based learning and tutoring platform aimed at an audience aged roughly 10 to 18 years old that reportedly has 20 million registered users, about 1.2 million of which pay for a subscription.
The platform includes online videos and courses, and the prospective funding would support international growth and an expansion to younger children.
Byju’s total funding reportedly stands at $244m, the company having most recently secured $40m in a July 2017 round featuring internet group Tencent that valued it at between $750m and $800m.
Times Internet, a subsidiary of media group Bennet, Coleman & Co, took part in a $50m round for the company in September 2016 that included Sequoia Capital, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sofina and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Other Byju’s investors include Verlinvest, the investment firm that provided $31m of funding for the company in March 2017, as well as Aarin Capital and International Finance Corporation, the private investment branch of the World Bank, which invested $15m in late 2016.