Three months after it received a $50-million fund infusion, edutech company BYJU’s has got an additional round of investment from International Finance Corporation (IFC) with an aim to grow its business in smaller towns.

IFC is a member of the World Bank Group focussed exclusively on investments in the private sector in developing countries. While IFC declined to comment on the quantum of investment made, it said that post its investment in BYJU’s, IFC will get a minority stake.

This stake will finance the expansion of the firm’s education services offering, increase technology development and potential inorganic growth opportunities, Ruchira Shukla, Regional Lead, South Asia, Venture Capital at IFC, told BusinessLine . “Using deep tech in education can be disruptive and drive better learning outcomes,” she added.

BYJU’s K-12 learning app, launched in 2015, offers tuition material for students in classes 4-12 and competitive exams such as JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS, GRE and GMAT. Byju Raveendran, CEO, BYJU’s, said the app has seen 7 million downloads, has 3 lakh annual paid subscriptions, and the average time spent on the app is 40 minutes. The company currently employs around 800 people, and all the content and technology are developed in-house.

With this fund infusion, the company is looking to increase the use of technology as it grows in more cities. “When students use technology for learning, it triggers changes in how content gets consumed and opens up new ways to explore concepts,” Raveendran said.

He said 70 per cent of BYJU’s users, at present, come from outside the top 10 cities. “It is encouraging to see increased adoption, but there is still a long way to go before we call this a learning revolution.” To further accelerate its reach in the deeper parts of India, BYJU’s is planning to add channel partners across the country.

India has the largest K-12 education system in the world, with over 260 million enrolments; it is estimated to grow by 30 per cent by 2022.

comment COMMENT NOW