US-based investment fund BlackRock Inc. has marked down the fair value of its investments in Byju's again, causing the beleaguered startup's valuation to plummet to $1 billion.
In a filing on Jan. 5, BlackRock Global Allocation Fund valued one share of Byju's parent, Think & Learn Pvt., at about $209.5 apiece. BlackRock holds a 0.9% stake in the company, which implies a valuation of $1 billion, down from its peak $22 billion valuation.
Last May, BlackRock had already slashed the valuation of the Byju Raveendran-led edtech firm to $8.4 billion from $11.3 billion.
BlackRock isn't the only investor downgrading Byju's valuation in its books. In November, long-time investor Prosus slashed the valuation of Byju's to below $3 billion, down over 86% from its once $22-billion worth.
Byju's tumble is capped by its aggressive pandemic-era expansion that didn't pay off the way it had expected. It faces multiple legal battles, along with a tricky path to profitability and poor corporate governance.
Think & Learn has posted consolidated revenue from operations of Rs 5,015 crore in financial year 2022 compared to Rs 2,280.2 crore in 2020–21, but it missed the company's guidance of Rs 10,000 crore. Its loss swelled to Rs 8,245 crore in fiscal 2022 from Rs 4,564 crore in the year-ago period.
The numbers show that a string of acquisitions in fiscal 2021, a period of lockdowns when students went online, did not yield result. That's also when its troubles began, ultimately leading to a fracas with lenders and delaying its earnings.
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