Indian edtech firm Byju's to raise funds at 90% valuation cut - Bloomberg News

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Embattled Indian edtech startup Byju's is looking to raise more than $100 million from existing stakeholders but at a steep 90% discount to its $22 billion valuation in its last funding round in 2022, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

Byju's, facing a host of legal and financial woes, is looking to sell fresh shares, including to founder Byju Raveendran, to raise funds to pay vendors and stabilise its business, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The pricing of the share issuance, slated for next month, values the company at less than $2 billion, down from $22 billion at its previous round in late 2022, the report said. It raised $250 million in that round.

Byju's declined to comment, while Raveendran could not be immediately reached for comment. Bloomberg did not name the investors likely to participate in the latest round.

Earlier this month, BlackRock slashed Byju's valuation by 95% to $1 billion, while tech investor Prosus NV chopped it to under $3 billion last November.

The valuation cuts came amid media reports that Raveendran pledged his homes for funds to pay staff, following the exit of several executives and board members, prompted by a delay in the company filing its 2021/22 financial results.

Core loss for the company widened more than 61% in fiscal year 2022, despite total income more than doubling, data from a Byju's statement filed to the registrar of companies showed on Tuesday.

However, in November, the company had said that it had trimmed its operating loss by 6% in 2021-2022 for its core online education business.

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Savio D'Souza and Sonia Cheema)