Amid tough times, highly valued Indian edtech platform Byju’s is planning to raise funds. The Byju Raveendran-led start-up is reportedly in talks with private equity firm TPG and two Middle Eastern sovereign funds to bag $300 million.
People, who are familiar with the development, told Bloomberg that the negotiations are still on the table as the investors are unsure about the prospective deal. The report also cited that the investors have started due diligence on Byju’s.
The Bengaluru-based start-up bagged $250 million in a funding round from its existing investors. Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) led the funding round with $100 million.
According to a report by the Economic Times (ET), the company did not disclose its valuation, earned in the previous round. It is currently valued at $22 million and trying to match the valuation in the prospective deal.
The company released its audit report for the financial year 2021 in September 2022. The report revealed a mammoth loss of Rs 4,588 crore and an operating revenue of Rs 2622 crore.
Since last year, Byju’s has been going through a rough patch. In an attempt to cut down the cost of the company, it announced a five per cent rationalisation of its 50,000-strong workforce.
A few days ago, Byju’s laid off another 1,000 staff from the engineering and product teams. The layoff came after Raveendran announced that the company would not fire any other workers in October.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) also summoned Raveendran for alleged malpractice conducted by the company’s sales team. Citing a media report, the child rights body said, "As the Commission has come across a news article wherein it has been pointed out that the sales team of BYJU'S is indulging in malpractices to lure parents to buy their courses for their children. lt has also been mentioned in the news report that some customers have also claimed that they were exploited and deceived, and had put their savings and futures in jeopardy."
