BYJU’s founder Byju Raveendran hails from Azhikode, a small village in Kannur, Kerala.
The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Pracilla Chan, announced its first investment in Asia in Bengaluru-based Byju’s, a learning app.
Along with Sequoia Capital Sofina,Lightspeed Ventures and Times Internet, CZI will co-invest in the $50-million round in Byju’s. Byju’s had raised $75 million from Sequoia Sofina in March this year.
“I’m optimistic about personalized learning and the difference it can make for students everywhere. That’s why it’s a major focus of our education, and why we’re looking forward to working with companies like BYJU’s to get these tools into the hands of more students and teachers around the world,” Mark Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook.
According to the company, the newly-raised funds will be used to expand internationally and additional funding investments from leading companies around the world.
“We are excited to partner with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to usher in the next stage of growth at Byju’s. Our vision closely aligns with their vision of advancing human potential and promoting equality,” said Byju’s, Founder & CEO, Byju Raveendran.
Byju’s was founded in 2011 as a test preparation business, helping CAT aspirants crack the exam. It expanded to other competitive exams and for many years operated through physical classrooms. It also moved on to video classes a few years ago. But the big expansion in reach happened with the launch of a mobile app last year. The learning app saw over 5.5 million downloads and 250,000 paid annual subscribers within a year of its launch. The app helps effective learning programs for students’ form classes 4 to 12 and competitive exams like JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS, GRE and GMAT.
“Our K-12 app is reinventing how students learn in the age of mobile devices, as our approach combines teachers, pedagogical methods and data science to deliver personalized learning, feedback and assessments for school students,” said Raveendran.
Byju Raveendran was born to parents who were teachers and hails from Azhikode, a small village in Kannur, Kerala. “With an average engagement rate of 40 minutes per day, we are proving to be effective at improving learning outcomes and engaging India’s students,” Raveendran added.