Edtech firm BYJU’s promoters Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath and Riju Ravindran, have together sold shares worth about $408.53 million in 40 secondary transactions since 2015, according to research and data platform PrivateCircle, cited by media reports.
The beleaguered edtech firm has been caught in the crosshairs of multiple issues including board members resigning, Deloitte’s exit as the statutory auditor and an ongoing battle with its lenders on the $1.2-billion Term B loan.
The promoters’ shareholding has been gradually dropping since 2016.
“The promoters of BYJU’S have reinvested the entire amounts raised from secondary sales into the business for purposes of scaling it over the years,” a BYJU’S spokesperson told DealStreetAsia in a statement.
The first significant drop in shareholding was in 2015-2016 when the promoters’ stake dipped from 71.6% to 54.7% and later came down to 34.7% in 2019 and 21.2% in 2023, the report said.
BYJU’s promoters currently hold a 21.2% stake in the company with Byju Raveendran holding a majority share of 15.9%, whereas Divya Gokulnath and Riju Ravindran have 3.32% and 1.99% respectively.
PrivateCircle also said that multiple investors participated in BYJU’s secondary transactions including the likes of Silver Lake Partners, Blackrock, T Rowe Price, Chan Zuckerberg, Owl Ventures, Naspers, Times Internet, Lightspeed Ventures, Proxima Beta, Naspers Ventures, General Atlantic, and Alkeon.
The research firm highlighted that the secondary deals were, in some cases, executed at a discounted valuation compared to the company’s primary valuation at that time.
The report said Raveendran bought shares from his father Ravindran Kunnaruvath and the company’s employees including Arunangshu Bhakta, Brijesh Maheshbhai Patel, Smit Rajanikant Patel, Unique Jain, and Pravin Prakash. Gokulnath also purchased 4,666 shares from Navin Balan and Priya Mohan – the founders of Vidyartha, a company that BYJU’s acquired in 2017.