Byju’s says promoters reinvested amount from secondary stock sale
Byju’s statement came in the context of an intelligence firm’s report.
New Delhi:
Edtech’s Major Byju’s said on Tuesday that its promoters had reinvested the entire amount raised by them through the secondary sale of shares in the company.
According to private market information firm PrivateCircle Research, Byju’s promoters – Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath and Riju Ravindran – have collectively sold shares worth approximately $408.53 million in 40 side deals since then. 2015.
“BYJU’s promoters have reinvested all proceeds from secondary sales back into the business to grow it over the years,” Byju’s said in a statement.
The statement came against the backdrop of the intelligence firm’s report.
PrivateCircle said Raveendran owns 15.90%, while Divya Gokulnath and Riju Ravindran own 3.32% and 1.99%, respectively.
“Sponsor ownership in the company has been gradually declining since 2016. The first significant decline occurred between 2015 and 2016, when developer ownership fell from 71.6% to 54.7% and then fell to 34, 7% in 2019 and 21.2% percent in 2023,” the report said.
The private market intelligence platform said it analyzed various public data sources to come to the conclusions and in two cases where the secondary stock price was not available, PrivateCircle used the stock price. closest available primary action.
“Since 2015, Byju Raveendran has individually sold 29,306 shares worth $3.28 million, while his wife and co-founder Divya Gokulnath has sold 64,565 shares worth $29.40 million and his brother Riju Ravindran sold 337,911 shares worth $375.83 million.
“Over the years, several investors have participated in BYJU secondary transactions, including Silver Lake Partners, Blackrock, T Rowe Price, Chan Zuckerberg, Owl Ventures, Naspers, Times Internet, Lightspeed Ventures, Proxima Beta, Naspers Ventures, General Atlantic and Alkeon,” he said.
PrivateCircle Research said secondary trades at Byju were often executed at a reduced valuation relative to the company’s primary valuation at the time.
“For example, an average discount of 53% was seen in secondary sales during its Series F round. Rs 1,64,000 per share and the series F share main price was between Rs 2,13,042 and Rs 2,37,336,” the report said.
According to the report, Mr. Raveendran has purchased a total of 31,960 shares since 2012 from several sellers, including Ravindran Kunnaruvath (father of Byju Raveendran), Arunangshu Bhakta (employee of BYJU), Brijesh Maheshbhai Patel (employee of BYJU), Smit Rajanikant Patel (BYJU employee), Unique Jain (BYJU employee) and Pravin Prakash (BYJU employee).
Divya Gokulnath purchased a total of 4,666 shares from Navin Balan and Priya Mohan (founders of Vidyartha).
Byju acquired Vidhyartha in 2017.
“Riju Ravindran also purchased 100 shares from Mrinal Mohit (COO of BYJU). However, we were unable to determine the value of these secondary purchases,” the report said.
Mr. Raveendran, in a call with investors, highlighted his personal investments in the business, including $400 million in the parent company, $250 million for the acquisition of Aakash and another $250 million in the form of secondary shares pledged for the last round of funding.
At a recent town hall meeting with employees, Mr. Raveendran said the developers remained the biggest investor in the company.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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