Byju’s raises $122 million from DST Global at $10 billion valuation

Byju’s, India’s largest online education platform, has raised $122 million from DST Global at a valuation of $10 billion, according to regulatory filings.

Byju’s is allotting 42,666 Series F preference shares at an issue price of Rs 213,042.13 per share for a 1.2 per cent stake for DST Global, led by Israeli-Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. Entrackr first reported the development.

Moneycontrol first reported on August 4 that DST was in talks to lead a $400 million round in Byju’s.

Online education is one of the few sectors that has received a major boost amid the COVID-19 pandemic as more and more people experiment with virtual learning due to lack of other options.

Ed-tech startups have raised about $750 million so far this year.

Earlier, Byju’s said its FY20 revenue doubled year-on-year to Rs 2,800 crore, and that it has 3.5 million paid customers. While it did not give profit figures for FY20, it made a profit of Rs 20 crore in FY19, according to regulatory filings.

DST Global, is one of the world’s leading late-stage technology investors, having invested money in companies such as Facebook, Spotify, Alibaba, Twitter and Airbnb.

For DST, the deal with Byju’s, marks a comeback of sorts to investing in India.

Since September 2016, DST has only invested in food delivery startup Swiggy and business-to-business marketplace Udaan - catapulting both to the coveted unicorn status, or startups valued at over a billion dollars.