Byju’s Founder Reportedly Takes Loan Against His Home to Pay Employees’ Salaries

GG News Bureau
Bengaluru, 5th Dec. Byju Raveendran, the founder of edtech giant Byju’s, has faced financial difficulties and has resorted to using his own home and his family’s properties as collateral to secure a loan for paying employees, according to anonymous sources.

The properties offered as collateral include two homes owned by Raveendran’s family in Bengaluru and his under-construction villa in Epsilon, a luxurious gated community in the city. The loan amount of $12 million was used to cover the salaries of 15,000 employees in Byju’s parent company, Think & Learn Pvt., on Monday.

Raveendran has been making every effort to keep the company afloat and alleviate its financial pressures. Byju’s, once India’s most valuable tech startup, is currently in the process of selling its US-based kids’ digital reading platform for approximately $400 million. Additionally, the company is involved in a legal dispute with creditors over a missed interest payment on a $1.2 billion term loan.

On a personal level, Raveendran, who was once worth nearly $5 billion, has accumulated debts of around $400 million. He has pledged all his shares in the parent company as collateral. Furthermore, he reinvested the $800 million he obtained through share sales in the past few years back into the company, leaving him financially strained.

Last month, Byju’s released its first financial results in years, revealing a slight reduction in losses at Think & Learn amidst a surge in business during the pandemic. The company also announced that an investigation by an Indian federal agency into its overseas fundraising has concluded, and any penalties are expected to be minimal, according to a statement released last week.