Bengaluru-based education technology startup Byju’s known popularly asThink & Learn Pvt. Ltd is aiming to expand its business by acquiring different gaming and learning apps especially in the US which will allow them to expand their business by aiming for the lower grades of education, starting from kindergarten. Byju’sprovides educational services in India and offers courses on the CAT, GMAT and GRE besides content for classes 8 through 12 for various boards. Last year, Byju’s had raised $140 million through various funding avenues.
Byju Raveendran, who is the founder and CEO of Byju’s, was quoted here as saying,“We are looking at companies with good products. If there’s a company with a strong set of games, say 100 games for lower grades, it’s a potential target for us. We are evaluating some of these options in the US. This is to accelerate our growth and to make our product more comprehensive”.The CEO also mentioned that the new acquisitions would be in the range of $5-30 million and that the deal would be finalised in six months.
Byju’s, Raveendran said, was looking to pair up with various companies with new products. The company was looking to acquire games for learning which would also include apps which promoted learning through gaming. Some of these games were said to be available in the US and the company was trying to make their product portfolio more attractive.
Byju’s will look to launch its international version of their learning app in the next 18-24 months. It will primarily target school students in English-speaking countries such as the US, the UK and other Commonwealth countries like Australia and South Africa. Raveendran also said that while the company’s current business model was profitable, the company would look to consider raising more funds as it aimed to expand across various other markets. The Byju’sapp has been downloaded more than 7 million times and has reached 350,000 paid subscribers.
Byju’s is looking to expand in India as well. Following the $75 million of fresh funding it got from Sequoia India and Belgian investment firm Sofina in March 2016, Byju’s raised another $50 million in a round of funding that was also participated in by the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) late last September. This was the first serious investment of this philanthropic foundation which is helmed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan in Asia. The education technology in India is booming.
