Byju's becomes India's most valued startup at $16.5 billion with UBS, Blackstone funding

Byju's founder Byju Raveendran.

Online learning firm Byju's has become India's most valuable internet startup with a valuation of $16.5 billion in its current funding round, surpassing fintech firm Paytm's $16 billion valuation.

Byju's has raised $350 million from UBS, private equity giant Blackstone, Abu Dhabi state fund ADQ, Phoenix Rising and video conference firm Zoom's founder Eric Yuan, regulatory filings said.

Byju's has raised over $1.5 billion dollars in the last 18 months, many times more than total funding earlier, with growth for online education turbocharged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Byju's is expected to use the funds for more acquisitions. Its acquisitions in the last one year include coding firms Whitehat Jr, competitor Toppr, offline test preparation firms Aakash, Great Learning and Gradeup. The latter two deals have not closed yet and have been reported about earlier.

Founded by former teacher Byju Raveendran, Byju's valuation has doubled since January 2020, when it has valued at $8 billion in a Tiger Global-led round.

Its other investors include Naspers, General Atlantic, B Capital, Blackrock and Sequoia Capital.

Due to its acquisitions over the years, Byju's today provides an array of educational services for students across the spectrum, from toddlers to high school and college entrance exams and beyond. It also has customers in the US and other developed markets, where parents are often likely to pay more for education.

Byju's has also been one of the few profitable internet unicorns- companies valued at over a billion dollars. It is said  to have over a billion dollars in revenue for FY22 and still growing fast.

Incidentally, Paytm, which held the crown of the most valuable internet startup till now, is planning a $30 billion public share offering this year.