Edtech startup Byju’s on Monday said it has raised $250 million from its existing investors. Though the company did not disclose the names of the investors, sources said Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and a few private equity investors participated in the round, with the company’s valuation remaining unchanged at $22 billion.
The development comes a week after Byju’s announced that it would lay off 2,500 employees in a rationalisation drive to become profitable. Byju Raveendran, co-founder and CEO of Byju’s, said the company is now at a “sweet spot of its growth story”, where the unit economics and the economies of scale are both in its favour.
“This means the capital that we now invest in our business will result in profitable growth and create sustainable social impact. Regardless of the adverse macroeconomic conditions, 2022-23 is set to be our best year in terms of revenue, growth and profitability,” he added.
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The edtech firm last raised a large funding round worth $800 million from Sumeru Ventures, Vitruvian Partners and BlackRock in March 2022 at a valuation of $22 billion. Raveendran also participated in that round with a personal investment of $400 million. However, the funding by Sumeru and another investment firm Oxshott Capital Partners amounting to $300 million reportedly did not conclude. Raveendran confirmed last month that the $300 million in funds was, in fact, withdrawn by the investors.
To date, Byju’s has raised over $5 billion in form of both equity and debt capital and is considered the most-funded consumer internet startup in the country. Byju’s reported a loss of Rs 4,564 crore in the 2021 fiscal. Its revenues during the year declined 3.3% to Rs 2,428 crore as it deferred about 40% to subsequent years due to its new revenue recognition model.
Byju’s, which is planning to go public, has also been laying off employees since the start of 2022. Last week, the company said it will lay off around 2,500 employees across various subsidiaries, including Toppr, Meritnation, TutorVista, Scholr and HashLearn, as it looks to “avoid redundancies” in roles.
This was the second round of layoffs at Byju’s in 2022 after it initially fired around 500 employees across its two subsidiaries Whitehat Jr and Toppr in June.
Byju’s maintains that it has “embarked” on a path to achieve group-level profitability by March 2023. In its statement on Monday, the startup said it has begun re-targeting its marketing budget towards its overseas markets. Byju’s group of companies, which includes around 17 acquisitions, is also increasing the strength of its inside sales team for “more efficient and effective consumer-centric lead conversions”, the statement added.
Even as it continues to lay off staff, Byju’s said it will hire across all levels during this financial year with plans to add a total of 10,000 teachers in the coming year. It already claims to have around 20,000 teachers on its platform.
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