Byju`s to become India's most valuable startup after $ 150 million USB group funding

Several people familiar with the deal said Byju's, the pioneer of online education in India, is raising around $ 150 million from UBS Group AG with a valuation of around $ 16.5 billion. This funding will make the startup the most valuable startup in India. 

An entity that is part of UBS Asset Management is the one that makes the investment. The people who requested anonymity as the negotiations are private said that discussions are underway to invest additional funds, which will bring their total investment in Byju to around $ 300 million. One person said the startup could get another supporter to increase the new funding to $ 400 million.

Byju recently raised about $ 1 billion from Facebook Inc. co-founder Eduardo Saverin B Capital Group, as well as Baron Funds and XN, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month, citing a familiar one. The startup industry in India has been the birth of unicorns, private companies valued at a billion dollars or more, at a dizzying rate. The UBS investment will take Paytm's valuation to kick off Byju's previous digital payments, the last of which was worth $ 16 billion.

The online education company officially called Think & Learn Pvt., A huge list of investors, including private equity giant Silver Lake Management, Owl Ventures, and T. Rowe Price, along with former investors like the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg`s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Naspers Ltd. and Tiger Global Management.

A spokeswoman for Byju declined to comment on the fundraising or evaluation. A UBS spokeswoman declined to comment. A person familiar with the matter said that UBS Money manager Musaab Javed negotiated and structured the investment.

The startup was founded in Bangalore by Byju Raveendran, a former teacher whose parents were also teachers. Raveendran, 39, owns about a third of the company.

In a recent interview, Raveendran said that the pandemic has dramatically changed the acceptance of online learning by parents, teachers, and students. The startup's eponymous K-12 app, which generates most of its revenue, has more than 80 million registered users in India who understand the basics of math and science through animation games and videos with demonstrations for teachers.

In recent months, Byju's has accelerated the pace of acquisitions, including a company that teaches one on one coding to school goers in markets such as the United States, Latin America, and Australia alongside India. You have bought another one that specializes in offline exam preparation classes for Indian school graduates aspiring to enter highly competitive medical and engineering universities.

After reaping unexpected dividends from the pandemic-fueled online learning boom in its home country, Byju's was quick to propel it into international markets by renaming its Coding Lessons unit, Byju's Future School. It is one on one coding and math lessons are now available in the US, UK, Australia, and Mexico in Spanish and Portuguese in Brazil. It expands its subject repertoire to add music, English, and creative arts.

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