BYJU’S set to raise $1 billion in fresh funding: Report
The $1 billion funding round, which is expected to close in a month, will help BYJU’S to prepay a part of the $1.2 billion term loan B (TLB) it had raised in 2021.
is reportedly set to raise $1 billion in fresh funding through a mix of equity and structured instruments. The valuation will remain flat at $22 billion.
Moneycontrol reported that about $700 million will be raised via equity, with one of the three Middle East-based sovereign funds in advanced talks to lead the round.
The balance of $300 million will be raised through structured instruments, and BYJU’S is in advanced talks with US-based asset management firms Oaktree Capital Management, Apollo Management, and Davidson Kempner Capital Management, the report added.
BYJU'S declined to comment on the development.
Recently, The Economic Times reported that the Bengaluru-based edtech firm has approached Apollo Global Management for $200 million - $250 million structured funding for Aakash, which it had acquired in April 2021 for a cash and stock deal of close to $1 billion.
In April, sources told YourStory that BYJU’S was raising $700 million in a funding round at a flat valuation. Existing investors are 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.
Byju's Founder and CEO Byju Raveendran
According to the Moneycontrol report, the $1 billion funding round, which is expected to close in a month, will help BYJU’S to 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 a funding round from its existing investors, including Qatar Investment Authority, in October 2022, after picking up $800 million from Blackrock, Sumeru Ventures, and others in March. It also took on an unsecured loan of Rs 300 crore from Aakash in October last year.
BYJU’S, India's most valuable startup, 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 intelligence and investigative agency Enforcement Directorate searched BYJU'S premises.
The startup, which is yet to file its financials for FY2022, 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.
Edited by Kanishk Singh