Byju’s turns to internal round as Middle East funding looks shaky

A dismal earning report has investors spooked, even as India’s largest edtech company is set to cut 2,500 jobs in the next six months.

Byju’s negotiations with sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East to raise a new equity round have stalled, according to people with knowledge of the talks. Byju’s—India’s largest education technology company with a valuation north of $22 billion—was in talks with sovereign wealth funds in Abu Dhabi and the Qatar Investment Authority to raise funding to the tune of around $700 million.

“The red flags in its FY21 earning reports spooked the investors,” says an edtech executive familiar with the matter, asking not to be named. “Talking about raising $300 million in a week is easy. Going out in the …

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Pradip K. Saha

Pradip is a co-founder at The Morning Context and leads our newsletters vertical. He has previously worked at The Ken as a staff writer, at Mint as an assistant features editor and the Deccan Chronicle as a copy editor. He works with a slew of expert newsletter writers across subjects and domains. His own writing spans the gig economy, farmers caught in the crossfire of technology, global warming and parents trapped in the edtech wave. Some of his best stories have come at the intersection of technology and human endeavour.

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