Byju's posts FY22 result after 22-month delay, net loss balloons to Rs 8,245 crore

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported today that Byju's is seeking to raise $100 million at valuation of less than $2 billion, which is a 90% 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.

In the FY22 financials, the Byju's auditor cautioned that a material uncertainty exists due to its large losses and a $1.2 billion loan that may cast significant doubt on the group's ability to continue as a going concern.

The auditor further said, "However, as further explained in the Note, the management has undertaken various measures to improve its operating financial condition, is also in the process of securing necessary funding arrangements and exploring sale of assets as needed, and hence is confident regarding the future viability of the Group."

"Further, basis a legal opinion, the management is of the view that it is unlikely that the TLB loan will be required to be paid in the foreseeable future. Accordingly, these financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2022 have been prepared on a going concern basis," it added.

Byju's FY22 financials showed that 69 percent or Rs 3,464 crore of the company's operating revenue of Rs 5,014 crore came from domestic sales, whereas the rest came from exports.

Nitin Golani, Chief Financial Officer, BYJU'S, said, "We would like to thank our students for the growth we have seen in FY 22. Our subscriber base has grown 125% in the year from FY 21.

"While we are happy that our total income has grown 2.2X, we are also aware of our underperforming businesses like Whitehat Jr and OSMO which contribute to 45% of the losses. We have taken various measures to improve our operating financial conditions. These businesses were scaled down significantly to cut losses in the subsequent years while other businesses continue to see growth," he added.

(This is a developing story. Please check back for updates).