In two instances where the secondary share price was not available, PrivateCircle used the closest available primary share price and analysed various public data sources to arrive at the findings.
“Byju’s promoters have put the entire secondary sale proceeds back into the business to scale it up further over the years,” a spokesperson for the company told ET in response to a query on the secondary share sales.
Since 2015, founder and CEO Byju Raveendran individually sold 29,306 shares worth $3.28 million, whereas his wife and co-founder Divya Gokulnath sold 64,565 shares worth $29.40 million, and brother Riju Ravindran sold 337,911 shares worth $375.83 million.
The investors that participated in Byju’s secondary transactions included Silver Lake Partners, Blackrock, T Rowe Price, Chan Zuckerberg, Owl Ventures, Naspers, Times Internet, Lightspeed Ventures, Proxima Beta, Naspers Ventures, General Atlantic and Alkeon.
Times Internet is a part of Times Group, which publishes The Economic Times.
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These secondary deals were often executed at a discounted valuation as compared to the company’s primary valuation at the time of the sale, PrivateCircle added. For example, an average 53% discount was observed in secondary sales during its Series F round.During the Series F round, Byju’s promoters sold their shares in the price range of Rs 112,126–Rs 164,000 ($1,368.40-$2,001.48) per share while the Series F primary share price was in the range Rs 213,042–Rs 2,37,336 ($2,599.99-$2,896.48).
The analysed data was released about five days after founder and CEO Byju Raveendran wrote to the edtech’s employees, detailing his commitment and conviction to the Bengaluru-headquartered startup.
“By reinvesting the entire amount received through secondary sales back into the company, my commitment to the mission and the conviction on the potential of BYJU’S is unwavering and unshakeable,” his email to employees on Thursday night said.
The company is currently facing multiple challenges ranging from several board resignations and legal tussles surrounding a $1.2 billion loan, to layoffs across the organisation to save capital. News of the board resignations came the same day auditor Deloitte disclosed it was resigning because Byju’s had delayed releasing financial statements for 2021-22, and had not provided documents even after the auditor wrote several letters to the board.
Adding to the woes, ET reported last Wednesday that the edtech firm is yet to receive the entire Rs 2,000 crore (about $244 million) infusion sanctioned by Davidson Kempner Capital in May as Byju’s had failed to meet the loan terms put forth by the US asset management firm. The company is currently in advanced talks with prospective new shareholders for a $1 billion fundraising round, per a Bloomberg report.
Older secondary transactions
Since 2012, Byju Raveendran has purchased a total of 31,960 shares from multiple sellers, including Byju Raveendran’s father Ravindran Kunnaruvath and employees Arunangshu Bhakta, Brijesh Maheshbhai Patel, Smit Rajanikant Patel, Unique Jain, and Pravin Prakash.
Further, Raveendran’s wife Divya Gokulnath had purchased a total 4,666 shares from Navin Balan and Priya Mohan, founders of Vidyartha. The company had acquired Vidhyartha in 2017. His brother Riju Ravindran also purchased 100 shares from Mrinal Mohit, Byju’s chief operating officer.
Currently, Byju’s promoters together own 21% of the edtech company. Individually, Byju Raveendran holds 15.90%, while Divya Gokulnath and Riju Ravindran have 3.32% and 1.99%, respectively.
The promoters’ shareholding saw a significant drop between 2015 and 2016, when it dipped from 71.6% to 54.7%. It fell to 34.7% in 2019 and 21.2% in 2023.