The news comes at a time when Byjus is looking to work around the repayment of a $1.2 billion term loan that it secured in late 2021.
Indian ed-tech startup Byjus has reportedly raised $700 million at a flat valuation of $22 billion in a fresh funding round. According to a report by Financial Express, the company raised funds via two separate deals of equity and convertible notes.
Two sovereign wealth funds based out of West Asia and large private equity firms led the funding round, the report said. Some of the existing investors also participated in the round to raise fresh capital, it added.
Unnamed sources of the media organization noted that on March 31 a few senior employees were briefed about the finance round, in which at least $400 million-$500 million is reserved for debt payments. Additionally, Byjus now plans to separately list only Aakash in India, a change from its earlier plan to merge subsidiaries like Think and Learn into the parent company.
Official confirmation from the company is still awaited. Still, it is noteworthy that the company raised fresh capital at a flat valuation because just recently a report suggested that American multi-national investment company BlackRock reduced the valuation of India’s most valuable startup to $11.15 billion. This is half of the $22 billion valuation at which the company last raised funds.
Also, the fresh funding round is coming at a time when Byjus is looking to work around the repayment of a $1.2 billion term loan B that it secured in late 2021 for five years. The Economic Times reported in December last year that some creditors have asked Byjus for a faster repayment of the term loan, while also renegotiating the terms of the debt.
Meanwhile, prior to the latest capital round, Byjus raised $250 million from existing investors including Qatar Investment Authority at a flat valuation of $22 billion in October 2022. Prior to this, in March, the unicorn startup announced it has raised $800 million in funding where it was valued at $22 billion.
However, later reports highlighted that the company is struggling to close the $800-million funding round due to “macroeconomic changes.” At that time, Byjus was yet to receive $250 million from Sumeru Ventures and Oxshott. The company’s co-founder Raveendran also backed the funding round and invested $400 million into the startup.
