Byju Raveendran, the founder of Byju’s, has admitted the net worth of his start-up is now zero.
“The company is worth zero. What valuation are you talking about? It is zero,” Raveendran told reporters via video conferencing from Dubai late on Thursday. Byju’s was once India’s most valued start-up, with a tag of $22 billion in 2022.
While observers said its aggressive expansion through the inorganic route was one of the reasons behind its poor performance, Raveendran said the company “overestimated potential growth, entered (a) lot of markets together. It was little too much, too soon”.
“Most of the acquisitions were brought in by the investors and we got carried away. Investors wanted us to launch in 40 countries together. Investors celebrated when we raised $1.2 billion loan.”
Board members representing Peak XV Partners, Prosus and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative resigned in June 2023.
The Byju’s founder said a case of a loan default in a Delware court led to the resignations as the investors feared they would be liable to pay the $1.2 billion loan.
The lenders of the $1.2 billion Term Loan B (TLB) through their administrative agent Glas Trust approached Delaware Court of Chancery alleging default in the payments and sought early payment.
While Raveendran exuded optimism of a turnaround after the insolvency issue is resolved, a PTI report quoting him said, “Our subsidiary has not taken any hits. At consolidated level we will have more than ₹5,000 crore in revenue. We are struggling in the core business which has become zero. Still there are 200 million kids who come to our platform every month. We have to revamp and revive’’.
Byju’s is now undergoing insolvency proceedings. These were triggered after the BCCI sought to recover their ₹158.9 crore dues.
The company settled the dispute with the cricket body after paying the entire dues following which the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal revoked the insolvency proceedings.
However, US lenders through Glas Trust challenged the NCLAT order in the Supreme Court which restored the insolvency proceedings against the start-up.
