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Byju’s has raised $250 million in fresh funding and is close to raising an additional $700 million, two people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch as it built up its war chest early in an IPO by Indian edtech giant Akash’s subsidiary.
New York-based investment firm Davidson Kempner has invested $250 million in Baiju in synthetic instruments, the people said on condition of anonymity because the information is not public.
The Bengaluru-headquartered startup is India’s most valuable, the capital’s remaining sovereign fund, the people said. That capital, which is expected to arrive within two weeks, will come to the startup as part of a convertible note valuing it at $22 billion.
Baiju maintained its $22 billion valuation last year as several high-profile startups globally made drastic corrections in their valuations.
Davidson Kempner declined to comment, while Baiju did not immediately respond. TechCrunch could not identify the sovereign fund. Indian news outlet Money Watch had earlier reported about Baiju’s new funding.
The big funding round in Baiju comes at a time when India’s startup ecosystem is reeling from a financial meltdown while the global economy is weakening.
The physical custodian chain, which raised nearly $1 billion a year ago, is in advanced discussions with bankers including Baiju Citi and Goldman Sachs to proceed with its IPO, TechCrunch previously reported.
Byju’s has received approval from the board of directors to proceed with the Akash IPO, and is preparing to file the paperwork.
It prepares students attending undergraduate and graduate-level courses and has expanded to serve students of all schools in recent years – it has gathered 150 million users who use the learning application. Hundreds of thousands of students can visit the brick and mortar of the organization. – Mortar centers.
As many parents look for a digital supplement to continue their children’s education, Baiju, like other edtexes, has benefited from the lockdown. Baiju’s backer, Process Ventures, said in a filing last year that the startup has spent more than $2.5 billion as the Indian company expands and expands its presence in many international markets.
The startup generated a total revenue of $1.258 billion (undisclosed) in the fiscal year ended in March last year. Between April and July, the startup reported $570 million in revenue. It counts Baiju Process Ventures, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia Capital India, Silver Lake, Owl Ventures, UBS and BlackRock among its backers and has raised over $6 billion to date.
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