India’s edtech startup Byju’s yet to receive $250 million funding

funding Byju’s
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India’s edtech startup Byju’s has yet to receive $250 million of the $800 million funding it announced in March this year. Attributing the delay to “macro-economic reasons”, India’s most valuable startup has now said that it expects to get the remaining funding from Sumeru Ventures and Oxshott by August-end this year.

The company had in March said that it raised $800 million at a valuation of $22 billion from investors like Sumeru Ventures, Vitruvian Partners and BlackRock. Its promoter Byju Raveendran contributed half of the total amount.

However, the delays from Sumeru Ventures and Oxshott to finance their committed $250 million to Byju’s are because of macro-economic reasons,” the startup’s spokesperson said in a statement after Indian news outlet Morning Context reported the development.

The publication also raised questions about the legitimacy of the investment by Sumeru Ventures and Oxshott and their funds’ existence and operations.

“Of the $800 million round announced in March 2022, $400 million funding from the founder is complete. The other $400 million, $150 million has come in and the rest is expected from Sumeru and Oxshott by the end of August 2022,” Byju’s added.

Raveendran Byju reportedly financed $400 million in the March round by taking loans against a portion of his stake in the startup.

The startup counts Prosus Ventures, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India and Lightspeed Venture Partners among its backers.

Byju’s founder group comprising Raveendran, his wife Divya Gokulnath along with some of their family members and the top management and employees holds more than 25% of the startup. Their share is expected to increase to about 29% after the completion of the round.

The development came amidst reports of Byju’s postponing the initial timelines to clear payments for its acquisition of Aakash. The startup however claimed that it has cleared its Aakash deal payment.

Earlier this month, the edtech startup also stated that it would announce its latest audited financials over the next 10 days. Its audited financial statements for the last two financial years are pending to be filed with the Registrar of Companies, as per a separate report by the Economic Times.

The startup lately fired at least 600 employees across group firms like Toppr and WhiteHat Jr. Byju’s claimed that retrenchment was a strategic decision to improve business efficiencies throughout Byju’s and its group companies.

The startup is now planning to acquire US-based edtech company 2U.

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