BYJU’S raises $250M in fresh funding: Report

BYJU'S has reportedly raised $250 million in fresh funding at a flat valuation of $22 billion through structured instruments.

TechCrunch reported that the edtech firm has raised the funds from New York-headquartered investment firm Davidson Kempner. The Bengaluru-based company is expected to close an additional $700 million in funding from a sovereign fund in two weeks, the report added.

Earlier this week, Moneycontrol reported that BYJU'S was set to secure $1 billion in fresh funding through a mix of equity and structured instruments. About $700 million of this funding will be raised via equity, with one of the three Middle East-based sovereign funds in advanced talks to lead the round. 

BYJU'S declined to comment on the development.

In April, sources told YourStory that BYJU’S was in talks to raise $700 million in a funding round at a flat valuation. Existing investors were also participating in this round for which the due diligence has already been done, they had said. This round was expected to be closed within a few weeks.

The edtech unicorn’s fresh funding comes at a time when several startups in the space, including the unicorns, are struggling to cope with mounting losses, slowing their expansion plans, and seeking to reduce their expenses amid a funding winter.

Meanwhile, BYJU’S is preparing to list its subsidiary Aakash Educational Services Limited, which it acquired in April 2021 for a cash and stock deal of close to $1 billion.

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According to the Moneycontrol report, the fresh funding will help BYJU’S prepay a part of the $1.2 billion term loan B (TLB) it had raised in 2021.

As part of renegotiating its debt financing arrangements, BYJU'S has offered to raise the interest rate on its TLB to its lenders. This was the biggest TLB being placed by an Indian startup at the time of the raise, but the loan was unrated.

BYJU’S last raised $250 million in October 2022 from its existing investors, including Qatar Investment Authority, after picking up $800 million from Blackrock, Sumeru Ventures, and others a month earlier. It also took on an unsecured loan of Rs 300 crore from Aakash in October last year.

BYJU’S, one of India's most valuable startups, has been plagued with mounting losses, layoffs, and pending loans after the end of the pandemic-led edtech boom. The company has also come under scrutiny for its accounting practices. Most recently, the financial crime-fighting agency the Enforcement Directorate searched BYJU'S premises.

The startup, which is yet to file its financials for FY22, reported a loss of Rs 4,564.38 crore in FY21—bigger than its FY20 loss which stood at Rs 305.5 crore.

Last month, BYJU'S appointed Ajay Goel as its chief financial officer amid a delay in filing the FY22 financials with the Registrar of Companies.