Ali Hasan
Introduction – We all know how the world has changed since the pandemic. People were forced to stay indoors and everything that was once normal became just memories.
Memories of hanging out with friends, going to movies, to shopping, dining out at restaurants or working out in the gym. The pandemic changed the world we lived in and now masks, sanitizers and a distance of 6ft became the new normal.
But, one of the most affected were the kids as they were unable to go school and pursue their studies. There are a lot of ways by which you can study through the internet. You can search anything on Google or YouTube and you may be pretty satisfied with results.
The problem here is may be. It’s because Google and YouTube aren’t educational platforms. Google is a search engine while YouTube is an online video-sharing platform. Both can be extremely useful but they’re not exactly what a student needs for his/her studies.
Now Byju’s comes into the picture. It’s an Indian Educational Technology (EdTech) tutoring firm founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran at Bangalore which became the world’s most valued EdTech Company with a valuation of $12 billion in 2020.
Byju Raveendran, at the Global Trends Festival announced that the EdTech startup has an 86% renewal rate. With 70 million users and 4.7 million subscribers, Byju’s app downloads have increased by 600% from 2017 to 2020.
Now the big question is “Can Byju’s rise on the occasion and help with the education of millions of students during the pandemic?” We will answer that in this blog.
Early Days – BYJU’S was founded by Byju Raveendran in 2011. He was born in Kerala, India in 1981.
Their app was developed by Think and Learn Pvt Ltd which was established by the founder himself. He was trained as an Engineer who started coaching students to pass mathematics exams in 2006.
In 2011, he founded an educational company with the help of his students offering online video-based learning programs for the K-12 (Kindergarten to 12th Grade) segment as well as competitive exams.
In 2012, Think and Learn entered in both Deloitte Technology Fast50 India and Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific ratings and has been present there ever since.
In August 2015, Byju’s – The Learning App was finally launched after being 4 years in development.
In 2016, it was awarded as the “Best Self-Development App” by Google Play India.
In 2017, Think and Learn launched Byju’s Math App for Kids and Byju’s Parent Connect App to help parents track their child’s learning course. By 2018, it has 1.5 crores (15 million) users and 900,000 paid users.
Marketing Strategy – Byju’s have spent a lot of money on marketing and advertising. In July 2019, they won the sponsorships rights for the Indian cricket team jersey, thus replacing its former sponsor Oppo.
As of December 2020, Shah Rukh Khan is the Brand Ambassador for Byju’s.
Their main marketing campaign is “Come Fall in Love with Learning”. This was a phenomenal Video Marketing Campaign and it was aimed at parents about how smartphones can help their kids in learning and can offer rich and interactive content for them.
User Base & Valuation – During March and April, it added 13.5 million new users. Since the lockdown, it has added over 25 million new students on its platform.
It has a total of 70 million registered students (including the 25 million) and 4.5 million paid users. 40% of the 4.5 million students are from the top 10 cities and 30% of their user base are from the top 100 towns in India.
Byju’s are in the process of adding regional languages to further expand their reach in the India.
The startup is currently valued at a whopping $12 billion which makes it the 2nd most valued startup after Paytm which is valued at $16 billion.
Funding & Shareholdings – Byju’s is the 1st EdTech startup to cross $2 billion in investments from a total of 18 rounds and 24 investors.
The Lead Investors are as follows:-
- Silver Lake
- DST Global
- General Atlantic
- Tiger Global Management
- Qatar Investment Authority
- Tencent Holdings
- Prosus & Naspers
- Black Rock
- Owl Ventures
- Sands Capital Ventures
- Alkeon Capital
They recently raised $500 million and after 2 months they again raised $200 million in a fresh round of funding.
Revenues – In 2019, Byju’s revenues was Rs 1,341 crores with a profit of Rs 20.16 crores. It was almost a threefold increase when compared to 2018 where operating revenues were Rs 471.2 crores. In 2020, they earned Rs 2,800 in revenues.
The firm has also registered a 43% jump to 100 minutes in terms of time spent by a user on the platform on a daily basis. The firm attributed the growth to allowing free access to users as soon as the lockdown was announced throughout the country.
They expect to earn $150 million in profits in 2021 as more and more students are moving to online classes due of the pandemic. Byju’s owned Osmo is expected to do more than $100 million in revenues in the USA in 2020.
Acquisitions – They have acquired 7 startups which are as follows:-
- In July 2017, they acquired Vidyartha, Edurite and TutorVista.
- In 2018, they acquired Math Adventures.
- In January 2019, they acquired a US-based Osmo which is a maker of educational games for children aged between 3-8 years for $120 million.
- In 2020, they acquired Indian startup LabInApp for an undisclosed amount and WhiteHat Jr for $300 million.
Controversies – There are some controversies regarding Byju’s which are as follows:-
- Byju’s was asked to remove their 5 TV advertisements by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) due to incorrect advertising.
- Byju’s was ordered to pay Rs 52,000 as compensation to Dinesh Kumar of Aminjikarai. Their advertisement had promised that classes were scheduled to start in the 1st week of December 2016. But, the class started 1 month later in January 2017 at Anna Nagar with no infrastructure, no faculty and the venue was changed 3 times.
- Byju’s owned WhiteHat Jr was involved in a major controversy when it falsely advertised that a kid named Wolf Gupta aged 6-13 got placed at Google and is earning a salary of millions of dollars. This was not received very well and WhiteHat Jr was criticized for false advertising and misleading people. The matter is in the Delhi High Court and there will be a detailed hearing on January 6, 2021.
Future Goals – Byju’s has plans to file for an IPO in the next 2-3 years. They have plans to list in India as well as in the US as they expect massive profits in the upcoming years due to the pandemic.
The Big Question – Now we finally come to the big question. Can Byju’s educate India Digitally? I think yes, they can but there’s a long road ahead of them which they still need to conquer.
They need to make their content simple, easy to use, engaging and affordable in order for everyone to use. They also need to add as many regional languages as possible in order to penetrate deep into India.
With many investors, ample funding, new users and the tag of India’s 2nd most valued startup, I don’t see any reason why they can’t do it. They can but it will take them some time to reach that spot.
As of now, their major concern should be:-
- Producing Quality Content,
- Showing Consistent Profitability &
- Filing an IPO in the near Future.
We wish Byju’s all the best and hope that every child has a fair chance to education and no child should be left behind just because of the pandemic or lack of resources.
