After PharmEasy, Swiggy and the Indian edtech firm Eruditus, Byju’s also witnessed a valuation cut by the asset management platform Blackrock. The development happened three months after the company reduced its stake in the highly-valued edtech firm.
Multiple media reports have claimed that the firm has marked its valuation down by 62.7 per cent from $22 billion to $8.2 billion. The firm owns less than one per cent stake in Think and Learn Private Limited, the parent company of Byju’s.
This has been the second valuation slash for Byju’s. Prior to this, Blackrock slashed its valuation to $11 billion in February.
Byju’s has been a subject of controversy since the middle of the financial year (FY) 2022. After a much-delayed audit, the company published its financial result for FY21. It registered a loss of Rs 4,500 crore. In October, last year, the company announced a five per cent rationalisation of its 50,000-strong bandwidth, which suggested a possible termination of 2,500 employees.
The edtech giant was also alleged of mis-selling its courses. It has also been accused of hiding $500 million from its lenders.
Recently, Janus Henderson, the US-based asset management firm slashed the valuation of API Holdings, the parent company of the online pharmacy platform PharmEasy. It marked the valuation down by 50 per cent. Swiggy also registered a valuation downsize by Baron Capital.
