US asset management company Baron Capital has reduced the valuation of edtech firm Byju’s by 99.85 percent to $120 million. As per the filings with the US Exchange Commission, this is as of March 31, 2024. This was first reported by YourStory.
Baron Capital, which holds 15,334 shares through the Baron Emerging Markets Fund and 9,201 shares via the Baron Global Advantage Fund, has valued its investments in BYJU's at $75,485 and $45,294, respectively.
With the ongoing turmoil around the edtech company, Byju's valuation dropped significantly from its peak valuation of $22 billion in October 2022. Earlier this year, Byju’s launched its rights issue to raise $200 million from existing investors. The valuation of the edtech firm at that time was $230–$250 million.
In August last year, Baron Capital also reduced the valuation of the edtech firm. Baron reduced the edtech firm’s fair value by 44.6 percent, effectively pricing the massive edtech company at slightly under $12 billion.
In the company’s June quarter report, Baron Capital mentioned, “Weak performance was driven by a marked slowdown in business momentum as COVID-related tailwinds that benefited online and digital education have begun to dissipate. In addition, Byju’s announced that Deloitte had resigned as its auditor and would be replaced by BDO.”
Another investor that reduced the valuation of the edtech firm was Black Rock. Asset Manager Black Rock reduced the valuation of Byju’s to $1 billion. This was a 95 percent drop from the previous valuation of $22 billion for the company. Black Rock holds less than a one percent stake in Think and Learn, the parent entity of Byju’s.
Additionally, in 2023, Dutch investor Prosus Ventures cut the valuation of Byju’s to less than $3 billion. In one year, the Dutch investor reduced the valuation of the company two times. About nine percent of Byju’s is owned by Prosus. Prosus is also among the group of investors who filed a plea against Byju’s this year on the Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal.
