BYJU'S receives funding from Tencent; aims at inorganic growth for new markets

Education app BYJU'S on Tuesday announced receiving an undisclosed amount of funding from Tencent Holdings Limited (Tencent), a leading provider of Internet value added services in China.

The funding received will enable BYJU'S accelerate product development for new markets and enable inorganic growth through acquisitions.

Launched in 2015, BYJU'S learning app has pioneered the personalised learning space for school students across the country. With nine million students learning from the app and over 450,000 annual paid subscribers, BYJU'S has seen more than 100 percent growth, with revenue growing from Rs. 115 crores (FY 15-16) to Rs. 260 (FY 16-17) crores. The company also turned profitable last quarter.

"We are excited to have Tencent on board with us. This makes our strong investor portfolio even more diverse. At BYJU'S, we have been fortunate to have investors who have always played a crucial role as partners in our growth story," said founder and CEO BYJU'S, Byju Raveendran.

Adding to this Raveendran said that the round of funding will help the company leverage expertise in creating highly effective tech-enabled learning programs to cater to the learning requirements in new markets.

"We are excited to be partnering with Byju on this exciting journey," said Executive Director of Investment and M&A at Tencent, Hongwei Chen.

Offering engaging and effective learning experiences for students, BYJU'S has become the most loved K-12 learning app in the country.

The app creates personalized learning programs for individual students based on their proficiency levels and capabilities which help them learn at their own pace and style.

The learning app has seen a high annual renewal rate of 90 percent, which is a validation of its effectiveness.