BENGALURU: Edtech giant Byju’s is the 13th most valuable start-up in the world, and it is the first home-grown edtech start-up to reach a valuation of $21 billion, according to the latest data by CB Insights.
The Byju Raveendran-owned firm has raised over $5.183 billion so far, and the latest funding round was a Series H-II for $63 million from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which had first invested in the firm in 2016.
According to CB Insights, there are 936 unicorn companies around the world with a total cumulative value of over $3,049 billion.
Since the Covid-19 outbreak, edtech firms are seeing significant growth as the kindergarten to 12th grade market is expected to stay the most valuable.
According to Statista, in 2020, the whole market (education and skill development market) was worth $2.8 billion, and by 2025, it is expected to change drastically, as the overall market size will touch $10.4 billion.
Byju’s revenue in 2020 stood at $421.43 million, and its competitors in India include Vedantu (total funding stands at $306.38 million in September 2021), Unacademy ($875.73 million in August 2021) and Eruditus Executive Education ($593.46 million till August 2021).
It has acquired 17 companies so far and its latest acquisition was GeoGebra on December 08, 2021. It acquired Tynker in September and Whodat Tech in August this year. Apart from Byju’s, at the 54th position is OYO which is valued at $9.6 billion.
China’s Bytedance (it operates a dozen products including TikTok) is at the No 1 position with a valuation of $140 billion, followed by SpaceX at $100.3 billion. China’s edtech firm Yuanfudao is at the 17th position with a valuation of $15.5 billion.