Edtech behemoth Byju’s is in discussions with various stakeholders to raise USD 400 million to USD 600 million and then fast track plans for Initial Public Offering (IPO) next year. The Bengaluru-based statrtup is likely to close the pre-IPO fundraising in a few weeks at USD 21 bn valuation, news agency Bloomberg reported citing officials familiar with the development. The fresh capital will evevnly distributed between equity and debt.
Byju’s is in talks with investment banks like Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase to file its initial listing documents as early as the second quarter of next year, sources told Bloomberg. The company is reportedly eyeing a valuation of US$40 billion to US$50 billion in its stock market debut.
Byju’s, which has over 100 million registered students and 6.5 million paid subscribers, has been on an acquisition spree.
The edtech major Tuesday announced the acquisition of Gradeup, one of India”s largest online exam preparation platforms, for an undisclosed amount. The partnership will bolster BYJU”S presence in the fast-growing online competitive examination preparation category along with harnessing Gradeup”s pedagogy and student reach, a statement said.
In April this year, Byju”s acquired Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL) for about USD 1 billion to bolster its presence in the test preparation segment in the country. In July, it acquired Singapore-headquartered Great Learning for USD 600 million (about Rs 4,466 crore) and announced an investment of an additional USD 400 million to strengthen its position in the professional and higher education segment.
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Byju”s also acquired US-based digital reading platform Epic for USD 500 million (around Rs 3,729.8 crore) and announced an additional USD 1 billion (about Rs 7,459.7 crore) investment in the North American market earlier this year.
Previously, Byju”s had acquired TutorVista and Edurite (from Pearson in 2017), Osmo (2019), and coding training platform WhiteHat Jr for USD 300 million last year. Byju”s is estimated to have raised about USD 1.5 billion since April last year in multiple tranches. Byju”s (Think & Learn Pvt Ltd) is backed by marquee investors, including General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Naspers, Silver Lake, and Tiger Global.
