Byju's founder takes loan against his home to pay salary: Report
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New Delhi: Byju Raveendran, founder of edtech Byju’s, has pledged his home to raise money to pay employees, Bloomberg News reported citing sources.
Raveendran has also taken loan against homes owned by his family members as the company is fighting what appears to be a deepening crisis.
The former billionaire has borrowed $12 million pledging his under construction villa in the city’s gated community, Epsilon and two homes owned by his family in Bengaluru.
The funds raised were reportedly used to pay salaries to 15,000 employees in the company’s parent firm Think & Learn Pvt., on Monday, according to the report.
Byju’s, previously India’s most valuable tech startup, has been struggling in the past several months to overcome financial pressures.
It is reported that Byju’s is selling its kids’ digital reading platform in the US for about $400 million.
Alongside, the company is fighting a case for not paying interest on a $1.2 billion loan term.
Raveendran, once the poster boy of tech startups in India, personally raised $400 million pledging his shares in the parent company, the report said.
Previously he had raised $ 800 million through selling shares.
When Byju’s was booming, Raveendra was worth almost $5 billion and the company suffered setbacks post Covid era with students returning to off-line mode in schools and colleges.