BYJU’s has reported raised USD 250 million in fresh funds using structured instruments at a flat valuation of USD 22 billion.

According to media sources, the funds were raised by the edtech startup from the New York-based investment firm Davidson Kempner. The Bengaluru-based company is set to close an additional USD 700 million in capital from a sovereign fund in two weeks.

BYJU’S was set to get USD 1 billion in fresh fuding round earlier this week through a combination of equities and structured instruments. Around USD 700 million will be raised in via equity, one of the three Middle Eastern sovereign funds in advanced talks to lead the deal.

The edtech unicorn’s fresh funding comes at a time when other firms in the industry, including the unicorns, are trying to cope with rising losses, halting expansion plans, and attempting to cut costs amid a fundraising winter.

Meanwhile, BYJU’s is aiming to IPO its subsidiary Aakash, which it purchased in April 2021 for about USD 1 billion in cash and stock. According to media reports, the new funding will assist BYJU’s in prepaying some of the USD 1.2 billion term loan B (TLB) company received in 2021.

BYJU’S has offered to increase the interest rate on its TLB to its lenders as part of renegotiating its debt financing arrangements. At the time of the rise, this was the largest TLB placed by an Indian startup, however the loan was unrated.

BYJU last received USD 250 million from current investors, including Qatar Investment Authority, in October 2022, after receiving USD 800 million from Blackrock, Sumeru Ventures, and others a month before. In October of last year, it also received an unsecured loan of Rs 300 crore from Aakash.

The company’s accounting practises have also come under scrutiny. The Enforcement Directorate, a financial crime-fighting body, recently searched BYJU’s headquarters.

The company, which has yet to disclose its financials for FY22, posted a loss of Rs 4,564.38 crore in FY21, which was higher than its loss of Rs 305.5 crore in FY20. Following a delay in completing the FY22 financials with the Registrar of Companies, BYJU’s recruited Ajay Goel as its chief financial officer last month.

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