Byju’s to raise $700 million at valuation of $22 billion

BENGALURU:  Edtech major Byju’s is reportedly in talks to raise $700 million in a new funding round at a valuation of $22 billion. The funding round is said to be in the final stages and that it might be closed in 
two weeks.

However, Byju’s declined to comment on fund raising. This development comes a day after the company announced its new chief financial officer. Vedanta Group’s Ajay Goel has been appointed as the company’s chief financial officer (CFO). 

The edtech company said the appointment will help strengthen the company’s financial operations, long-term business strategies and path to profitability. As CFO, Goel will be responsible for overseeing financial strategy and management for the company.

The company in October announced that it is taking a slew of optimisation measures to ensure sustainable growth alongside strong revenue growth.  Byju’s is yet to file its financial results for the year ending March 31, 2022.

In October last year, the edtech major took an unsecured loan of `300 crore from its subsidiary tuition chain Aakash Educational Services that it acquired for $950 million in 2021.  According to regulatory filings, the unsecured loan was granted to the edtech giant at 7.50% interest rate.

Byju’s reported a consolidated loss of Rs 4,589 crore in FY21, up from over Rs 260 crore in the previous fiscal. Byju’s is backed by investors including Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Naspers, CPPIB, General Atlantic, Tencent, Sequoia Capital, Sofina, Verlinvest, IFC, Aarin Capital, Lightspeed ventures and Tiger Global, among others.

Recently, it rolled out a 4-tier tech-driven internal sales process replacing its existing direct sales process. It said the 4-tier process begins with educating an incoming lead about Byju’s product portfolio and new refund policy.