Byju's Struggles To Close $800-Million Funding As Investors Balk Amid Tech Rout

The delayed funding for Byju's is likely to trigger renewed concerns about India’s consumer technology industry, where public valuations on major players from Zomato to Paytm have plummeted in recent months

Founder Byju Raveendran has completed an injection of about $400 million into the start-up as part of the round, the company said.

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Byju’s, Indian online education provider, is struggling to close a funding round of $800 million as a global technology rout weighs on valuations, Bloomberg reported on Monday. According to the report, Byju’s investors, including Sumeru Ventures and little-known firm Oxshott, haven’t transferred about $250 million of the targeted amount because of “macroeconomic reasons,” a Byju’s spokesperson said on Monday without elaborating. The two firms should come through by the end of August, she added.

Founder Byju Raveendran, however, has completed an injection of about $400 million into the start-up as part of the round, the spokeswoman said.

The delayed funding for India’s most valuable start-up is likely to trigger renewed concerns about India’s consumer technology industry, where public valuations on major players from Zomato to Paytm have plummeted in recent months.

The completed fundraising would have valued the start-up at $22 billion, and Raveendran’s investment was a rare instance of an Indian founder taking part in a venture capital round at a late-stage start-up. Sumeru Ventures didn’t respond to Bloomberg’s email seeking comment.

Bangalore-based company Byju’s, backed by Bond Capital, Silver Lake Management, Naspers, and Tiger Global Management, has been seeking to expand abroad through big acquisitions.

It offered more than $1 billion to buy US-listed edtech firm 2U Inc., even as it initially pushed back payments to take over test-preparation provider Aakash Educational Services, Bloomberg reported last month.

Raveendran (42), the son of educators, founded his start-up in 2015. Byju’s, whose parent company is formally known as Think & Learn Pvt, is the largest of a crop of start-ups that over the past decade have thrived on India’s growing mobile connections and investment from abroad.