The online teaching app BYJU has been earning several accolades recently. After reports of BYJU officially replacing OPPO on Team India’s cricket jerseys, the much popular teaching app has another reason to rejoice. As per reports, Byju Raveendran, the CEO of BJYU, has joined the club of Indian billionaires, becoming the newest billionaire in the list. The 37-year old entrepreneur joined the rarefied club after his Think and Learn Pvt scored $150 million in funding earlier this month.
A Reuters report also suggested that that Venture capital fund Owl Ventures also participated in the funding round, the proceeds of which will be used for BYJU’s international expansion.
The teacher-turned-entrepreneur set up Think & Learn in 2011, offering online lessons before launching BYJU’s in 2015. The online app was launched in Bengaluru and has achieved a valuation growth of almost $6 billion in about seven years, the Bloomberg report stated. As per the report, Raveendran holds more than 21 percent stake in the company, thus becoming one of the youngest billionaires in India.
BYJU’s business has signed up more than 35 million users, out of which about 2.4 million pay an annual fee of Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000. Recently, Raveendran began courting long-term investors such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, with his latest backer being the Qatar Investment Authority.
Looking at its future aspects and India’s growing learning market, BYJU’s revenues are expected to more than double to Rs 3,000 crore ($435 million) in the year ending March 2020. The pace of growth has already caught the attention of investors like Naspers Ventures, Tencent Holdings Ltd, Sequoia Capital and Facebook-founder Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan.
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