Sumeru Ventures, a curious Los Angeles-based fund, participated in a $800 million round in Byju’s. But the money hasn’t come in and questions are being raised about the fund’s antecedents.
Skeletons are tumbling out of Byju’s closet thick and fast. The Morning Context has learnt that the $800 million (around Rs 6,300 crore) private equity investment the company announced in March has gone off track.
“The money from Sumeru Ventures, one of the participants in the round, hasn’t landed,” says a person in the know. Things came to the point where one of the investors initiated a probe by corporate investigation and risk consulting firm Kroll, which found “serious discrepancies with Sumeru Ventures, which has derailed the entire investment”. This person adds that they can’t share the Kroll investigation report …
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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