This test prep startup just got US$75 million in India’s largest edtech round yet

Photo credit: Barry Pousman.

Byju Raveendran has named his startup after himself, which is why it’s so much fun to say that Byju’s has just raised US$75 million in funding. With that sort of name, it sounds a bit like a local tutoring class, maybe something small started by an enterprising friend.

Don’t get me wrong, though. It’s not small in any way.

It was originally started to help students in India prepare for tests like the GMAT and the GRE. When Byju realized the power of the smartphone, however, he decided to take his services online, but this time with a focus on students between primary school and high school. That was in 2015. Since then, the startup has claimed to have signed on over 125,000 paid annual users with more than 2.5 million downloads of its app. The average ticket size for a customer is a little under US$200 a year.

Its latest round is the biggest edtech fundraise in India’s history. In fact, it’s even bigger than all of the money raised by the top ten highest funded edtech startups last year – combined.

The money comes with serious clout too, with Sequoia Capital and Belgium-based Sofina participating in the round.

Byju’s money has always come with clout, though. Before this, it raised US$40 million in a round led by T.V. Mohandas Pai, the chairman of Manipal Global Education and India’s go-to investor for education startups looking for a stamp of approval.

A different kind of edtech

Photo credit: Sebastian Baryll.

As a business, it can be difficult to figure out how to solve education problems.

Scaling is tough for brick and mortar education startups, which is where technology comes in. And yet, technology doesn’t take the many different types of students into account, and is not the kindest or the most patient teacher. This is where the human element is necessary.

Byju has thought through all of these things.

“You’ll find videos that are filmed really well but in this format that’s only appealing to the top five percent of highly proficient, self-motivated students,” he explains. “People focus too much on technology when it comes to edtech, but we focus on helping students learn based on the types of learners that they are. It won’t work if students aren’t glued into what they’re learning.”

Byju’s online services focus on helping students between the ages of 11 and 17 get better at tests, which, Byju explains, is a tricky demographic to conquer. While adult learners are motivated enough to go out and learn things themselves, it’s not always the same for younger students. Most need some sort of external validation to keep learning.

The data dream