India’s Byju’s founder pledges homes for funds to pay staff: Bloomberg News

BENGALURU: Indian ed-tech company Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran has pledged his home and those owned by his family members to raise money for the salaries of his employees, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.

The properties include two houses owned by the billionaire founder’s family and an under-construction villa in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru as collateral to borrow $12 million, the report said, citing people aware of the matter.

The infusion of funds would help pay 15,000 employees in the embattled company’s parent firm, Think & Learn Pvt., the report added.

The company is facing a string of setbacks, including investors cutting its valuation and its auditor and board members quitting.

India’s Byju’s tells investors it will file 2022 earnings by Sept

It did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comments.

Reuters reported in November that India’s federal financial crime-fighting agency had issued a show-cause notice to Byju’s for alleged violations worth over 93 billion rupees ($1.12 billion) under the Foreign Exchange Management Act(FEMA).

Last month, the company reported its audited results for 2022 where it said operating losses fell 6% to 24 billion rupees ($287.95 million) for its core online education business for the year ended March 31, 2022.