Edtech startup Byju’s has raised an undisclosed funding round from Belgium-based venture firm Verlinvest. The capital will be used for fueling international expansion and acquisition plans.
“We are very happy to partner with the talented team at Byju’s to expand in India and abroad. A 1-on-1 learning experience is a dream ratio, and it is very encouraging to see that an Indian company has created a product which closely addresses this need by offering engaging and personalized learning experiences enabled by technology,” said Nicholas Cator, the Executive Director of Verlinvest.
“We have seen a lot of edtech companies, but Byju’s offers personalized learning to an extent which we haven’t seen in any product across the globe. We look forward to supporting the management team to expand to new markets and to further build the brand,” he added.
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Bangalore, Byju’s is a popular K-12 learning app which offers adaptive and engaging learning programmes. It prepares students to be ready for competitive exams like JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS, GRE, and GMAT, by teaching concepts and theories in a context.
It is not just theoretical.
The learning app largely appeals to the visual using original graphics and video tools. It also leverages technology and data science to make learning personalized, tailoring a suitable learning module based on what the student has and has not learned.
The app claims to have acquired 8 million users, with close to 400K annual paid subscriptions and a high renewal rate of 90 percent. It has also seen an average time of 40 minutes being spent by a student on the app every day from over 1700 cities and towns.
“In the last 18 months, we have witnessed exponential growth in India. While these numbers are very exciting, there is a long way to go before we can call it a revolution. The fact that we are still reaching to less than 1 percent of the student population, shows the immense potential and the impact we can create,” said Byju Raveendran, the Founder and CEO OF Byju’s.
“In fact, our teams are continuously working towards creating learning products that will enable our efforts to make learning more accessible, engaging, and personalised for students,” he added.
The edtech startup is currently one of the hottest edtech startups in India, having raised over US$174 million in funding previously, from investors such as the Chan Zuckerberg initiative, Sofina, Sequoia, Lightspeed Ventures and Times Internet Ltd, part of Times Group that publishes The Economic Times.
The startup already has a presence in the Indian and Middle East and is looking to expand into the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa and other African and Commonwealth markets. In January this year, Byju’s had acquired Bangalore-based Vidyartha, a data-driven platform offering customized learning guidance to students.
In another recent news, the startup had also launched a new app for students in class four and five known as the Byju’s Math App.
By Vivian Foo, VCNewsNetwork
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