India’s learning app and a global ed-tech company, BYJU’S, has announced that the Qatar Investment Authority and Owl Ventures have invested in this round of funding, thus, taking the total amount raised to $150 Mn.

The QIA is a Sovereign Wealth Fund that is led by the State of Qatar. Owl Ventures is the parent company for Owl Labs which is a video conferencing platform geared towards enabling learning experiences. 

As the digital learning landscape undergoes a rapid transformation, apps, and platforms such as BYJU’S are seeing a rise in adoption of online learning courses. Be it for professional courses by business leaders across the globe or be it for the youth to build their learning skills and prepare themselves for the future demands of the workplace. 

“High adoption and 85 percent annual renewal from small towns and cities shows the increasing acceptance of digital learning as a primary tool for learning at home,” said Byju Raveendran, Founder & CEO, BYJU’S--The Learning App. “This will help us explore and leverage our expertise in creating immersive tech-enabled programs for students in smaller cities, regions and newer markets.” 

As the education sector, not only in India but the world over lands upon a critical juncture, the need of the hour is to integrate classroom learning with online homework and visual learning tools. In order to expand their learning experience and a global footprint, BYJU’S has acquired Osmo, a Palo Alto-based producer of educational games in order to bridge the gap between offline and online learning experiences. 

“The investment underscores QIA’s strong commitment to the education sector and our focus on investing in leading innovators in the TMT industry globally,” said Mansoor Al-Mahmoud, CEO of QIA. 

As a firm that looks for long-term investment, Qatar Investment Authority picked this Indian startup in order to ensure the workforce of tomorrow is nimble and able to cater to a wide variety of job demands. 

“With the world’s largest school-age population of 260 million, India’s education sector is at an inflection point,” said Amit Patel, Managing Director, Owl Ventures highlighting the reason for partnering with BYJU’S.