Byju's picks up Vedanta's Ajay Goel as CFO amid delay in filing FY22 results

Byju Raveendran, co-founder, CEO, Byju's

Byju's, the world's most-valued edtech startup, has roped in a top Vedanta executive Ajay Goel as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), more than a year after its previous CFO resigned,  in what is a significant move for the company, which has delayed filing its FY22 (2021-22) results for more than six months.

Byju's previous CFO PV Rao quit in December 2021 and Goel's appointment comes 16 months later, people aware of the matter told Moneycontrol. Goel was the Group Deputy CFO of Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Resources. Before Vedanta, Goel was with Diageo, GE (General Electric), Coca Cola, and Nestle.

Byju's is yet to file its FY22 results with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). As regulatory compliance, private companies are required to file their annual results with the MCA by September of that year. Byju's filed its FY21 (2020-21) results nearly 18 months after the financial year ended and reported a surprise decline in its revenue. The company's losses, meanwhile, widened manifold to over Rs 4,500 crore.

Byju's confirmed the development in a media statement. The company said that Goel will be responsible for overseeing financial strategy and management for Byju's. Goel will work closely with the founders and the senior leadership on strategy development, capital planning and financial analysis, the company said.

"With his extensive experience and diverse skill-set, Ajay is the ideal candidate to take on the role of Chief Financial Officer as we continue to chart the course of sustainable growth in this exciting new phase. His strategic thinking and financial acumen will be instrumental in helping
us create even more value for our stakeholders,” Byju Raveendran, co-founder and CEO of Byju's said.

The appointment of Goel as Byju's CFO comes a few months after Byju's renegotiated terms with its creditors which included providing monthly business updates, hiring a CFO, and increasing the interest rate on the loan.

Byju's had raised a term loan B (TLB) of $1.2 billion from a clutch of investors in 2021, one of the largest for Indian startups.

Recently Byju's also reportedly offered to increase the rate of interest on its $1.2 billion term loan B (TLB) as part of renegotiating its debt-financing arrangements.

In November last year, according to a Bloomberg report, Byju's creditors were seeking faster repayment of part of the loan as the edtech giant had breached certain terms, including a September deadline for filing its results for the year ended March 31, 2022.

In TLB, borrowers aren't required to service the principal upfront. They can pay a large amount at the end of the loan period, unlike a regular loan where they pay part of the interest plus principal throughout the tenure.

Byju's, which is also India's most-valued startup, has been under fire since the start of 2022 for a range of issues including accounting irregularities, alleged mis-selling of courses, and mass layoffs. The company has laid off over 3,500 employees in the last 12 months as it was hit by a double whammy of drying venture capital funding and slowing demand for online learning services.

The company has been trying to raise at least $250 million in fresh funding for the last two months and according to media reports, it has had talks with several investors, including private equity firm TPG. According to another Bloomberg report, Byju's is trying to save its $22 billion valuation, which has come under pressure amid worsening macroeconomic headwinds, while raising new funds.

Meanwhile, Byju's is also looking to get its tutoring services unit--Aakash Educational Services, which it acquired in April 2021 for nearly a billion dollars, listed on India's stock exchanges at a valuation of $3-4 billion.

But, the company has also held exploratory merger talks for Aakash with its biggest rival Unacademy, Moneycontrol reported exclusively earlier in March.

Founded almost a decade back by Raveendran, a former teacher and his wife Divya Gokulnath, Byju's has raised over $5 billion in funding from equity and debt investors to date. It last raised a $250 million round in October at a flat $22 billion valuation.