Ed-tech major Byju’s, which has landed in fresh controversies, this time from within the company itself after its auditor, three board members, and staff alleged financial irregularities and non payment of provident fund (PF), still remains the highest invested company in India with a total funding of $5.7 billion till date. Unacademy is the second highest invested ed-tech in India, followed by Eruditus, upGrad, and Vedantu, data by market research firm, Tracxn, shows.
According to Tracxn, Byju’s received its last funding of $2.5 million on May 12, 2023, at a valuation of $8.3 billion, despite concerns surrounding its inflated losses. Byju’s reported a loss of Rs 4,564 crore in FY21. The financial statement showed that the net loss increased as promotion and employee expenses rose. Revenues fell 3.3% to Rs 2,428 crore as it deferred about 40% of its revenue to subsequent years due to its new revenue recognition model. With three of its board members walking away, the company has said that it will file its FY22 financials in September. Interestingly, Byju’s is reportedly planning to raise another $one billion funding to hold on to its investors amid the ongoing crisis.
Byju’s has as many as 124 investors both from India and abroad. Among the company’s top institutional investors are Davidson Kempner Capital Management, Tiger Global Management, Qatar Investment Authority, including prominent angel investors such as Eric S Yuan, CEO, Zoom; Bin Yuan, Chinese asset management company, and Panayotis Sparaggis, founder of Alkeon Capital Management, a US based Business management consultancy.
Byju’s valuation as of June 22, 2023 stood at $8.3 billion. However, it is reported to be slashed down by 15% to $5.1 billion after Prosus, one of the three board members which exited the company earlier this month, downsized the value of its 9.6% stake in Byju’s to around $493 million. This was stated in the Dutch tech investor’s annual report.
Furthermore, a consortium of Byju’s lenders are believed to have agreed to extend a cooperation agreement between them by a minimum of three months, in connection with a $1.2 billion term loan B (TLB) taken by the ed-tech major, several media outlets have reported.
Meanwhile, in a latest development, Byju Raveendran, CEO, co-founder, Byju’s on Thursday assured its employees about the sound future of the company and asked them to “rise above” as it prepares for a strong comeback. “The company is now actively expanding and diversifying its board to reflect the scale, scope, and reach of operations, which is a routine practice for large companies,” he said.