Byju’s Looking To Raise $1 Billion Via Sale Of Great Learning, Epic

Edtech giant Byju’s is looking to sell two companies it acquired in 2021 — Great Learning and Epic — to raise up to $1 billion in an effort to streamline its businesses and repay lenders, sources with direct knowledge of the matter were quoted as saying by Reuters.

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The edtech startup, which was valued at $22 billion last year, has been going through some crucial business crisis, with its auditor and board members quitting. Buju’s has been negotiating the repayment of a $1.2 billion loan in the last few months.

The sources further said that the edtech company, backed by General Atlantic, Prosus and Silver Lake, couldn’t sell more assets in the future to raise cash.

Byju’s had acquired Epic, which is a US-based reading platform, for $500 million, meanwhile, had acquired Great Learning for $600 million.

Byju's anticipates a total of approximately one billion dollars, with approximately $400-550 million allocated for Epic and $350-450 million earmarked for Great Learning, as part of their overarching "business turnaround strategy,” sources said.

According to the sources, Byju's intends to divest the two companies as part of a "strategic review" aimed at exiting from various other business segments and concentrating on its core domain of K-12 (kindergarten through secondary) education.

The second source revealed that Byju’s has received term sheets to sell Epic. In addition to other education companies, Byju's also plans to tap private equity investors to sell the two companies, the first source said.

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In June, three of Byju's investor board members departed from the company's board without providing any explanation, resulting in the board being composed solely of company executives. Simultaneously, on that very day, the auditing firm Deloitte withdrew from the audit process midway, citing a "significant impact" on its ability to conduct the audit in accordance with required standards due to the company's prolonged delay in providing financial statements.