Indian EduTech Startup Byju’s gets funding from World Bank Unit

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In March this year, Byju’s raised US$75M from Sequoia and Sofina, in the largest ever funding round by an Indian EduTech company so far.

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International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has invested an undisclosed sum in Indian EduTech company Byju’s, according to a press statement.

This partnership will enable Byju’s to further its plans to make education accessible for students across India and in international markets.

“Today, almost 70 per cent of our users come from outside the top 10 cities,” said Raveendran. “It is encouraging to see increased adoption from 1,700-plus towns and cities in the country, but there is still a long way to go before we call this a learning revolution. To further accelerate our reach in the deeper parts of India, we are planning to add channel partners across the country.”

The bangalore-based star up has earlier raised $50 million, co-led by Sequoia Capital and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a fund launched by Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan. This was preceded by a $75 million financing from Sequoia and Belgium-based Sofina in March this year. This is the largest ever funding raised by an Indian EduTech company to date.

Byju's-App1-StartagistThe startup was established by Byju Raveendran in 2011. Its app offers learning programmes that are engaging for class 6-12 and test preparations for competitive exams like JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS, GRE and GMAT. Its learning approach combines teachers, proven pedagogical methods, data science and machine learning to deliver personalised instruction, feedback and assessment for each student.

Byju’s has registered 7 million downloads and has 330,000 annual paid subscriptions so far.

Ruchira Shukla, Regional Lead, Venture Capital Investments at IFC, said: “IFC’s venture capital strategy in the EduTech space is focused on technology enabled learning platforms for academic improvement, skill development platforms as well as supplemental and low cost education solutions. Byju’s is the market leader in the 4-12 segment offering engaging content and building concept clarity by identifying and addressing students’ learning gaps.”

India has the largest K-12 education system in the world with over 260 million enrolments, and is estimated to grow by 30 per cent by 2022. 

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