Byju’s Founder Raveendran becomes new billionaire

New Delhi, July 29 (IANS) With the latest round of $150 million funding from Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) -- the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar -- ed-tech company Byju's has hit $6 billion valuation, making its Founder and CEO Byju Raveendran the newest billionaire in the country.

Raveendran holds more than 21 per cent stake in the Bengaluru-based educational technology and online tutorial firm, thus making him a billionaire.

With increased brand awareness and strong adoption among students, Byju's tripled its revenue to Rs 1,430 crore in the financial year 2018-19 and also turned profitable on a full-year basis.

The company declined any response on Raveendran's becoming a new billionaire, saying "Byju's does not want to comment on this".

The fresh round of funding in Byju's also included first-ever investment from Owl Ventures in an Indian start-up.

"Indian ed-tech firms attracting interest from eminent investors demonstrates that India is pioneering the digital learning space globally," Raveendran had said earlier.

Byju's has already crossed Rs 200 crore in monthly revenue and is estimating revenue of Rs 3,000 crore this year.

Transforming the offline to an online learning experience, it has also acquired Osmo, a Palo Alto-based education game making company.

The ed-tech firm offers learning programmes for students from classes 1 to 12 in India.

In one of its biggest win, from September onwards, Team India will wear Byju's on their jerseys. Chinese mobile-maker Oppo will be replaced by Byju's.

Team India will sport the Oppo logo on their jerseys till the West Indies tour which commences from August 3 and ends on September 2. Once, the South Africa tour of India begins from September 15, Byju's will take over the jersey.