BUSINESS
Byju’s investors set up working group to engage with edtech months after stepping down from board
The group includes some of Byju's largest investors, such as General Atlantic, Prosus, Peak XV, Sofina, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Verlinvest.
BUSINESS
upGrad’s Mayank Kumar quits as edtech consortium chairperson, PhysicsWallah's Maheshwari to take over
Kumar, who was leading India Edtech Consortium since 2022 along with Byju’s co-founder Divya Gokulnath, has sent a mail to the members of the consortium about his decision to quit
BUSINESS
Startup funding up 15% in September as late-stage deals make comeback
Although the pace of investment has been slow, experts are anticipating that things will pick up if start-ups can show promising performance and are able to grow into their valuations. They also feel valuations must be more realistic to inspire confidence in investors
BUSINESS
Byju’s to rebrand WhiteHat Jr as Byju's Future School, fully merge operations with itself
A merger of WhiteHat Jr with self would thus help the company in reducing its overall burn, which will be critical considering its impending cash needs
BUSINESS
Byju’s defers final settlements of laid off employees to November
Byju's sent an email to the affected employees, notifying them of a delay in the disbursement of their dues to November 17 from September 15 earlier
BUSINESS
SoftBank, CPPIB to participate in Eruditus’ $60-70 mn secondary funding, likely at 20% discount
The secondary funding round is also likely to see participation from a new investor with a sovereign wealth fund showing interest
BUSINESS
Byju’s undertakes strategic review of all its assets as it looks to focus on core biz, generate cash
Byju's is further considering the sale of some of its other non-core assets to unlock value and manage its debt repayment
BUSINESS
Byju’s misses own timeline to pay variable income to tuition centre staff
Mrinal Mohit, the de facto head of the Byju’s Tuition Centres (BTC) vertical had said in an employee townhall in July that the company would be paying variable or performance-linked income and other incentives to the entire staff with their September salaries. But at least 7 employees have confirmed to Moneycontrol that these incentives were not paid with September salaries
BUSINESS
Byju’s delays Rs 45-50 cr payments to Salesforce and other data management tools
Byju’s employees use customer relationship management (CRM) platforms like Leadsquared, Orderhive, and Salesforce, and data visualisation software such as Tableau and Tooljet. All employees lost access to Salesforce, Tableau and Tooljet on August 31
BUSINESS
Zepto's unicorn round sole bright spot as funding winter persists in August
Indian startups raised $376 million in PE/VC funding in August 2023, down from $523 million in July.
BUSINESS
SoftBank may exit Zomato fully after selling 1.17% in block deal
SoftBank, which has another 2.18 percent stake in Zomato, booked a profit of over Rs 100 core after partially selling its shareholding on August 30
BUSINESS
WhiteHat Jr CEO Ananya Tripathi resigns, in another top level exit at Byju's
Tripathi joined WhiteHat Junior in April of last year. She was the Managing Director at KKR Capstone before joining WhiteHat Junior. A McKinsey alumni, Tripathi also served as the Chief Strategy Officer of Myntra for almost four years.
BUSINESS
Byju’s chief business officer Prathyusha Agarwal, two more senior execs quit
The departure of the senior executives come at a time when Byju's is trying to get its operations and finances in place
BUSINESS
Upskilling platforms see robust demand for courses amid edtech slump
Upskilling and higher education platforms secured close to $750 million across 116 deals in 2022, K-12 and test prep platforms, on the other hand, nearly halved to $1.7 billion in 2022 from over $3 billion in 2021.
BUSINESS
Peak XV-backed Cuemath lays off 100 more employees amid edtech slump
Cuemath had sacked about 100 employees in May to improve efficiencies amid a worsening landscape for K-12 edtech globally.
BUSINESS
Mamaearth in talks with Fidelity, GIC, QIA, SoftBank for $150 million pre-IPO round
Even though founders Varun and Ghazal Alagh are confident of delivering an exit to investors through their upcoming public listing, a few early investors want to offload shares before the IPO, according to a source.
BUSINESS
Investors take a harder look at Indian edtech deals amid Byju’s troubles
While upskilling edtechs continue to attract some interest, investors appear to be cautious on the K-12 edtech sector
BUSINESS
Peak XV’s Shailendra Singh stresses on free cash flow, building right culture at founders retreat
In a 40-minute welcome note, Singh asked founders to have clarity on product propositions and how they should have a multi-decade mindset, build defensible moats, and should prioritise solving problems over money
BUSINESS
Byju’s lets go of employees in mentoring, product expert division after performance review
Employees were asked to resign voluntarily and were offered the salary for August and September as their final settlement, according to sources.
BUSINESS
Nearly 60% of Byju’s Tuition Centre customers have requested refunds in the last two years
The high refund request level suggests that students are dissatisfied with the quality and format of the courses offered by Byju’s Tuition Centers
BUSINESS
Bullish on India: IPOs become attractive exit option again as tech stocks soar
The recent bull run is significant because it follows a long bearish period when public shareholders questioned the profitability of these companies. The improved financial performance of tech companies is now forcing other new entrants to focus on better financials before approaching the market.
BUSINESS
Indian edtech firms leverage AI to curb cash burn, growth hiring
Firms are finding new use cases for AI including grading and feedback, co-pilot for teachers and students, and even sprucing up CVs of students, helping them to cut costs and reduce hiring.
BUSINESS
SoftBank sitting on $550 million of gains on listed Indian bets so far in 2023
The rise in the fair value of its investments in publicly listed portfolio companies led SoftBank to pare its stakes gradually via successive transactions in the public market
BUSINESS
SoftBank invests most in four quarters, restarts ‘careful’ investments with focus on AI
Through the company’s Vision Fund Unit, which includes the two Vision Funds and one Latin America Fund, SoftBank invested $900 million, more than two times compared to the same quarter of last year, when it invested about $400 million
