EdTech firm Byju’s parent company Think and Learn has reportedly offered an all-cash deal to WhiteHat Jr, another player in the field. This news came right after Byju’s fresh founding round from Bond Capital, the investment firm led by Mary Meeker. WhiteHat Jr is already looking for investors to raise $50 million in a new funding round at a valuation of $350 million.
WhiteHat Jr is said to be in discussions with renowned Venture Capital and private equity firms including Sequoia Capital, GIC – the sovereign wealth fund of the government of Singapore, Renuka Ramnath-led Multiples Alternate Asset Management, Tiger Global Management and Steadview Capital, among others. According to a source aware of the matter, “WhiteHat Jr continues to be in talks with multiple investors. Byju’s is a later entrant to the table.”
Karan Bajaj, forme CEO of Discovery Networks India ounded WhiteHat Jr in 2018 with the idea to teach students coding and help them create commercial-ready games, animations and apps using the basics of coding. The platform has a specific curriculum designed for coding and content creation which they teach through live, interactive online classes.
Byju’s has also been reported to acquire a doubt-solving platform Doubtnut for around $150 million in an all cash deal. The company, which is valued at about $10.5 billion, has been on a capital raising spree over the course of the current calendar year, with a significant portion of the proceeds expected to be utilised to fund acquisitions, across markets, as it ramps up its bouquet of products, and enters new geographies.