Edtech giant Byju’s in talks to go public via SPAC, insiders report

Online education provider Byju’s is in talks to go public through a merger with one of Churchill Capital’s special-purpose acquisition companies (SPAC), according to a Bloomberg report.

The startup held talks with several potential SPAC partners and is farthest along in working out an agreement with Michael Klein’s Churchill Capital, the report said quoting people familiar with the matter. Churchill Capital VII raised more than $1.3 billion in an offering in February and trades on the New York Stock Exchange.

Under the preliminary terms discussed, India’s most valuable startup Byju’s would raise about $4 billion and seek a valuation of about $48 billion, the people said. The startup was valued at $21 billion, according to market research firm CB Insights.

An announcement could come as soon as January, but the discussions are not final. Byju’s or Churchill could still opt out of such a deal, and Byju’s could consider an IPO in India next year, Bloomberg reported.

Also read: Byju’s lessons in acquisition: 6 education start-ups in 2021 at $2 bn

Bangalore-headquartered Byju’s is led by former teacher Byju Raveendran, and provides K-12 lessons and video material to millions of Indians studying for competitive engineering and medical entrance exams.

It also provides one-to-one coding, maths and reading classes and material to students in countries in North America, the Middle East and Latin America.

Byju’s had reportedly earlier discussed an SPAC merger with Michael Dell’s MSD Acquisition Corp. and Altimeter Capital Management.

Bloomberg had reported in September that Byju’s had been planning to file preliminary documents for a traditional IPO as soon as the second quarter of 2022 and was also considering an SPAC merger.

Formally called Think & Learn Pvt, Byju’s has global investors including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Naspers, Tiger Global Management and private equity giant Silver Lake Management.