Edtech major BYJU’S is in the process of closing a $700-million funding round at a flat valuation of $22 billion, according to people aware of the development, who spoke to businessline on condition of anonymity.
The funding round is structured as two separate deals — one equity round and another convertible note round. The due-diligence process for the funding round has already been completed, according to the source. About $400-500 million of this fundraise is expected to be used for debt payments.
The development comes at a time when its investor Blackrock has halved BYJU’S valuation to $11.5 billion. Similarly, Prosus, too, pegged BYJU’S valuation at $6 billion in November 2022. The company raised its last funding round at a valuation of $22 billion.
New CFO
The company also announced the appointment of a former Vedanta executive, Ajay Goel, as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Goel has over two decades of experience in delivering financial and operational results to companies like Vedanta, Diageo, GE, Coca Cola and Nestle.
BYJU’S financials have been under scrutiny ever since audit firm Deloitte delayed signing its FY21 financials. This led to an 18-month delay in the filing of BYJU’S FY21 numbers. Moreover, the edtech company has not yet filed its FY22 financials.
Given the tough market conditions, BYJU’S has turned its focus on profitability. “BYJU’S is working very hard to achieve profitability at the group level in the coming year itself,” CEO Byju Raveendran told employees in a December 2022 email. In order to achieve this, the company announced 2,500 layoffs across the group in October. This was in addition to the 500 people laid off across Whitehat Jr. and Toppr.
BYJU’S did not comment on businessline’s queries on this development.