Dutch investor Prosus Ventures has written off its $530-million investment in Byju’s, amid a legal standoff between the troubled online tutor and some of its once-enthusiastic institutional backers.
Prosus and other investors in Byju’s, including PeakXV Ventures, General Atlantic and Sofina, are fighting a battle to oust Byju Raveendran as the chief executive of the once-storied company he founded 13 years ago.
The online tutor’s contentious $200-million rights issue at a fraction of its peak valuation threatened to wipe out the stakes of most of its top investors unless they participated in it. Investors wanted more clarity and oversight on the funds amid alleged mismanagement by the company’s founders.
“In the current financial year, the group wrote off the fair value of its 9.6% effective interest in Byju’s, due to the significant decrease in value for equity investors,” Prosus said in its annual report on Monday.
Prosus has been slashing the valuation of its stake in Byju’s over the past 2 years. In November, it valued its stake in Byju’s at $3 billion. It had invested around $530 million for its stake in Byju’s, which stood at 9.67% last year after previous dilution.
At its peak in July 2022, Byju’s was India’s most-valued startup, with an estimated worth of $22.5 billion.
As for its investments in food-delivery startup Swiggy and payment service provider PayU, Prosus reported healthy numbers.
“PayU grew consolidated revenue 22% (38%) to $1.1 billion in FY24, driven by the PSP businesses in Turkey (Iyzico) and India, as well as India credit,” it said, about the payments business.
As for Swiggy, Prosus said the company’s “revenue on a local reporting basis grew 24% in local currency, excluding M&A. In its tenth year of operations, Swiggy‘s GOV (group order value) grew 26% year on year, and its ever-transacted user base reached the milestone of 104 million at the end of December 2023, supported by a fleet of around 387 000 active delivery partners,” Prosus said.
Prosus holds a 36.4% stake in Swiggy.
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Published: 24 Jun 2024, 01:15 PM IST