NEW DELHI: The promoters of ByjusByju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath and Riju Ravindran have together sold shares worth around $408.53 million in 40 secondary transactions since 2015, data sourced from private market intelligence platform PrivateCircle Research showed.While Byju Raveendran individually sold 29,306 shares worth $3.28 million since 2015, Gokulnath and Riju Ravindran sold 64,565 and 337,911 shares worth $29.40 million and $375.83 million respectively, according to the data which has been compiled by analysing various public data sources.
Multiple investors including firms like General Atlantic, BlackRock and Lightspeed Venture Partners have participated in Byjus secondary transactions over the years.
These secondary deals were often executed at a discounted valuation as compared to the companys primary valuation at that time.
For instance, an average of 53% discount was observed in secondary sales during its series F round, PrivateCircle Research said in a statement.Currently, the promoters of the troubled edtech startup collectively hold a 21% stake in the company.
While founder - CEO Raveendran holds 15.90% stake, Gokulnath and Riju Ravindran hold 3.32% and 1.99% stake respectively in the firm.
Raveendran has claimed that the money made through secondary sales has been reinvested into the company.
Valued at $22 billion at its peak, Byjus which is battling a series of crises has seen a series of valuation markdowns by its investors like Prosus and BlackRock.
In its recent markdown by Prosus, Byjus was valued at $5.1 billion.
Last month, Deloitte resigned as statutory auditors of the firm, citing a lack of communication by the company on the status of audit readiness of its FY22 results.
Besides, GV Ravishankar, managing director at Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India and SEA), Russell Andrew Dreisenstock of Prosus and Chan Zuckerbergs Vivian Wu also stepped down from the companys board, hurting the companys market credibility and inviting scrutiny of the authorities.