Embattled edtech firm Byju’s is in talks with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to settle its unpaid sponsorship dues of Rs 158 crore, and the two sides have a 'directional agreement' on a payment plan over the next six to eight months, a top Byju’s executive told Moneycontrol.
“Broadly, we are in conversations with the BCCI. There is a directional agreement on a payment plan that both parties have sort of agreed to which is what we will now work towards. We will be able to make those payments over the next six to eight months,” said Nitin Golani, the India chief financial officer of Byju’s.
“That is how we are working towards it. Hopefully, that situation is under control,” he added.
The cricket body had dragged Byju’s to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under insolvency and bankruptcy regulation late last year over Rs 158 crore of unpaid dues.
A week back, the edtech firm’s lawyers said that the company has filed an application to refer its dispute with the BCCI to an arbitrator. The NCLT, however, has opined that arbitration may not come in the way of proceedings initiated by the BCCI under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
The NCLT was further informed that Byju’s is currently engaged in negotiations with the BCCI to settle the dispute.
Byju's filed its FY22 financials with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) on January 23, almost 22 months after the reporting period ended.
Its consolidated revenue jumped 118 percent from Rs 2,428 crore in FY21 to Rs 5,298 crore in FY22, whereas losses ballooned from Rs 4,564 crore in FY21 to Rs 8,245 crore in FY22.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Byju's is seeking to raise $100 million at valuation of less than $2 billion, which is a 90 percent reduction from its last funding round where the company was valued at $22 billion.
Global investment management firm BlackRock, which holds less than 1 percent stake in Byju’s, has cut down the edtech company's valuation to $1 billion from the high of $22 billion it fetched in early 2022.
This comes amid a series of valuation downgrades by Byju’s’ investors over the past year. In November 2023, tech investor Prosus marked down the value of its stake in Byju's, resulting in a company valuation of less than $3 billion, representing an 86 percent decline from the previous valuation of $22 billion.
The company has laid off thousands of employees in the past two years as it battled a double blow of drying venture capital funding and slowing demand for online learning services.
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