Many Indian businessmen made billion-dollar companies from scratch. They used to work for other companies but later decided to start their own firm. However, after leading their businesses, they suffered major losses. They even had to raise debt to pay the salaries of their employees due to financial crisis. One such person is Byju Raveendran, founder of ed-tech startup Byju's. Raveendran has recently raised debt in his capacity to pay the salaries of employees for March, PTI reported quoting sources.
Byju's salary expenses for partial payouts are estimated to be Rs 25-30 crore. According to the source, the amount paid is between 50-100 per cent of salary. The 44-year-old founded the company in 2011 with his wife Divya. Byju's was India’s most valued startup at USD 22 billion (around Rs 1,83,000 crore) in 2022. However, the company started facing financial issues later in 2022. In December 2023, Raveendran pledged his home as well as those owned by his family members to raise money for paying employees, Bloomberg reported.
Raveendran has a dramatic fall in wealth from Rs 17,545 crore (USD 2.1 billion) to zero, according to the recently released Forbes Billionaire Index 2024. Meanwhile, Byju's valuation has since plummeted 95 per cent after investors cut their stakes in multiple rounds.
Earlier, the company had raised USD 200 million through a rights issue to meet its operational requirements, including expenses related to employees' salaries. Byju reported a net loss of around Rs 4560 crore for the year ended March 2021. His wife Divya helps him run the company and also sits on the board.
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