The largest asset manager in the world, BlackRock, has cut the implied valuation of the failing edtech company Byju’s to roughly $1 billion, a decrease of more than 95% from $22 billion at the time of its most recent fundraising in October 2022.
For the third time in 2023, BlackRock reduced the valuation of its shares in Byju’s parent company Think & Learn in a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on January 5. The shares were valued at $209.57 apiece for the quarter that ended in October.
According to this, Byju’s valuation has decreased from $8.2 billion at the end of the March quarter to approximately $1 billion. In 2022, the share value reached a maximum of $4,660.
Aakash Institute is a physical coaching unit owned by Think & Learn. BlackRock’s latest markdown includes it as well. In 2021, Byju’s purchased the business for almost $1 billion. Less than 1% of BlackRock is invested in the parent company of Byju.
The edtech company, headquartered in Bengaluru, has experienced a notable decrease in its operational scale in the past two years and is considering the sale of group assets in order to pay off debt. Byju Raveendran, the company’s founder, has been having trouble finding new funding, which has caused delays in November salary payments and other operational issues. Last month, he assured a group of senior staff members that the cash crunch should end in 45–60 days.