Benzinga | Dec 16, 2021 05:54AM EST

Mark Zuckerberg-Backed Indian EdTech Unicorn In Talks To Go Public In US Via SPAC Merger: Report

India's biggest online education firm Byju's is in advanced talks to go public through a merger with one of Churchill Capital's special purpose acquisition companies, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

What Happened Byju's would raise a total of about $4 billion and seek a valuation of about $48 billion based on the preliminary terms discussed, as per the report.

The negotiations with investor Michael Klein's Churchill Capital are not final and an announcement could be made in January. Bloomberg noted. Churchill Capital is also the SPAC partner of California-based luxury electric vehicle maker Lucid Group Inc. (NASDAQ:LCID), which merged with Churchill Capital Corp IV to go public.

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

Why It Matters: Byju's is the thirteenth most valuable startup in the world with a valuation of $21 billion, as per market research firm CB Insight's unicorn tracker.

Byju's was founded by a teacher named Byju Raveendran in 2011. The company, which provides K-12 educational material in the form of animation videos and games, says it has 115 million students on its learning platform and seven million annual paid subscriptions.

Prominent investors in Byju's include Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg's Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Tiger Global Management and private equity giant Silver Lake Management.

India's EdTech sector received a shot in the arm after the COVID-19 pandemic pushed up the demand for online classes.

Earlier this month, Byju's announced its acquisition of Austria-based GeoGebra, making it the EdTech company's tenth acquisition this year.

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Photo: Courtesy of Cherian_in via Wikimedia