Amid a severe financial crisis, the founder of the tech giant Byju's, Byju Raveendran, has reportedly offered his under-construction villa and his family members' homes worth Rs 100 crore as collateral to pay salaries to employees. Two properties owned by Raveendran's family in Bengaluru and his under-construction villa in Epsilon, the city's most exclusive gated community, were pledged to secure a loan of $12 million (approximately Rs 100 crore), as per sources. On Monday, the startup utilized these funds to disburse salaries to 15,000 employees in Byju's parent firm, Think & Learn Pvt.
Byju's, once the most valuable tech startup, faced a crisis as funding dwindled following a significant drop in valuation. In May this year, investment firm BlackRock reduced its valuation to $8.4 billion from the $22 billion achieved in March 2022. In June, global investment group Prosus valued it at $5.1 billion.
Raveendran reportedly raised personal debts of about $400 million, pledging all his shares in the parent company. Additionally, he reinvested $800 million, obtained through share sales in the past couple of years, back into the company.
Earlier today, Business Standard reported that Byju's credited pending November salaries to approximately 1,000 employees on Monday. The salaries, originally scheduled to be credited by December 1, were delayed due to a technical glitch in uploading details to a payroll service system, according to Byju's.
The Bengaluru-based startup has also faced allegations of delaying the 'full and final' settlements of employees it laid off earlier this year. In September, the company said it would settle the dues amid "difficult business restructuring." As per a new timeline in a company email, employees laid off were expected to receive their outstanding payments by November 17, with the previous deadline being September 15.