Byju’s is raising about $150 million from UBS Group AG at a valuation of about $16.5 billion, multiple people familiar with the deal said. The funding will make it India’s most valuable startup. An entity that is part of UBS Asset Management is making the investment. It is in discussions to invest additional money, which would take its total investment in Byju’s to about $300 million.
The startup could rope in another backer to take the fresh funding to $400 million, one of the people said. Byju’s recently raised about $1 billion from Facebook Inc. co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group as well as Baron Funds and XN. India’s startup industry has been birthing unicorns, private companies valued at $1 billion or more, at a breathless pace.
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The UBS investment will take the valuation of Byju’s past digital payments startup Paytm, which was last valued at $16 billion. The online education startup officially called Think & Learn Pvt., has amassed a large roster of investors including private equity giant Silver Lake Management, Owl Ventures, and T. Rowe Price, alongside earlier investors like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Naspers Ltd., and Tiger Global Management. A spokeswoman for Byju’s declined to comment on the fundraising or valuation. A UBS spokeswoman declined to comment. Musaab Javed, a money manager at UBS, negotiated and structured the investment, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
