Byju’s lowers valuation to raise $250 mn in funding round

NEW DELHI: Edtech major BYJU’s is in advanced stages to raise $250 million at a valuation which is “lower than the $22 billion valuation” it last announced as the company struggles to repay a $1.2 billion term loan and turn profitable in 2023, reliable sources said on Thursday.

Sources said the latest funding round is in “final stages of discussion and will be closed soon”.

Byju’s declined to immediately comment on the development.

However, the $250 million round comes at a lower valuation and according to sources, it cannot be at a “flat valuation” and this is why the edtech company is unable to raise funds it was widely expected to the tune of $500 million as reported earlier).

DealStreetAsia was first to report about the latest funding round by Byju’s.

To turn profitable, BYJU’s is winding up coding platform WhiteHat Jr, which it acquired for $300 million, as part of restructuring and cut costs. The company had said it was “merely optimising it”.

Edtech firm BYJU’s also appears not to be able to meet its March 2023 deadline to achieve group-level profitability, as it envisioned in its earnings in October last year and its quarterly results in the current fiscal year are delayed once again.

Sources earlier said the company, which has sacked thousands of employees to date and has taken deeper cuts, is still unable to achieve profitability at group level amid mounting losses.

In October after firing 2,500 employees and consolidating its business in the country, Mrinal Mohit, CEO, Byju’S India business, had said that “these measures will help us achieve profitability in the defined time frame of March 2023”.

At a group level, Byju’s had said its top priority is to achieve “overall profitability by March 2023”.

However, this appears impossible now with the company still struggling to stem growing losses.