India’s Edtech unicorn Byju’s confirmed on Monday that it has raised $250 million from its existing investors including Qatar Investment Authority. Byju’s didn’t confirm the name of all the investors who participated in the round. The company raised the funds at a valuation of $22 Billion, the same at which it raised funds in Match this year.
“Byju’s is now at a sweet spot of its growth story where the unit economics and the economies of scale are in its favor,” said Byju Raveendran, founder, and chief executive officer of Byju’s. “This means the capital we now invest will result in profitable growth and create sustainable social impact.”
This funding round came soon after the company laid off 2,500 people from multiple departments and cut the marketing budget to look toward profitability.
In the press statement, Byju’s said that it aims to achieve group-level profitability by March 2023. The company also confirmed that Aakash Education and Great Learning will continue to operate as standalone independent units.
Byju’s is an ed-tech platform that offers educational courses to school and college students. The app promises to offer interactive courses and live classes to teach students in a better way.
The company also spend a big sum in acquiring global startups in recent years. It also faced criticism for its toxic work culture, scam for its scales people, and delay in announcing its audited results.
In September, Byju’s reported a loss of Rs 4,589 crore for FY21 (2020-21) on consolidated revenues of Rs 2,428 crore. The company shared the numbers with the media in mid-September but filed financial results on October 14. It also received a letter from MCA demanding an explanation of the delay.
