Byju's to raise $150 million in funding from UBS at $16.5 billion valuation

Educational technology startup Byju’s is raising about $150 million from Swiss multinational investment bank UBS Group AG, at a valuation of around $16.5 billion, according to a source close to the development.

The investment will catapult the Bengaluru-based firm as India’s most valuable startup, ahead of digital payments giant Paytm, which is currently valued at $16 billion.

The investment is reportedly part of a larger $300-$400 million round that Byju’s is currently piecing together, with an additional $150 million coming from the investment bank itself.


The ed-tech company could also rope in another backer to bump up the round size to $400 million, Bloomberg reported earlier on Thursday. Byju's declined to comment, while queries to UBS remained unanswered as of press time Thursday.

The investment move comes just weeks after Byju’s raised $1 billion from Baron Funds, Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group, and US-based investment hedge fund XN Exponent Holding, regulatory filings seen by ET earlier this month showed.

Byju’s has so far raised about $2.77 billion from marquee investors such as B Capital, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), according to data intelligence platform Tracxn.

The investment from UBS comes at a time when the company is looking to expand internationally with the launch of its Byju’s Future School platform through which it is eyeing an entry into the United States, UK, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico in May.

It is also in talks to acquire upskilling platform Great Learning for $350 million, Entrackr reported on Thursday.

Byju’s has been on an expansion spree, fuelled by massive growth amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company recently signed a nearly $1 billion deal to acquire Aakash Educational Services Ltd - estimated to be the most expensive acquisition in the ed-tech space in India.

The acquisition will grow its presence in the test preparation space, just as its $300 million acquisition of WhiteHat Jr last year helped it expand in the coding-for-kids segment.

The Indian ed-tech sector is projected to become a $30 billion dollar one in 10 years, according to a recent report published by transaction advisory firm RBSA Advisors. The industry’s market size is currently $700-$800 million.

Indian ed-tech startups received about $592 million in equity funding in 2019, according to Tracxn. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, they received about $2.3 billion. About 727 ed-tech startups were founded in 2019, while 788 took off in 2020.

Last week, rival education technology startup upGrad raised $120 million from Singapore-based investment company Temasek.