Byju's reportedly plans $1 bn IPO for offline coaching arm Akash in its push for survival

After a dream-run during the pandemic, Byju's delivered a shock with a 10-fold rise in losses almost amonth back, followed by cost cutting measures including layoffs. Byju’s had also shut its office in Kerala, but reversed the decision when the state government intervened after for employees who were allegedly forced to quit. With hopes of a revival the edtech firm has is now moving ahead with an IPO for its offline coaching arm Akash.

Fresh funds pouring in?

As Byju’s moves towards a $1 billion IPO for Akash, it has also borrowed Rs 300 crore from the subsidiary, which it had bought for Rs 2000 crore from Blackstone. After struggling to close a $800 million funding round, the edtech major recently announced that it had secured $250 million from existing investors, to survive global headwinds. Earlier, Byju's was also said to be in talks with Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund for a $600 million infusion.

With cost cutting and investment the startup hopes to turn profitable by March next year. Despite trimming staff, the company has set sights on hiring 10,000 new teachers to expand its operations abroad.

U-turn on plan to exit Kerala Technopark

After a discussion with Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, the company’s founder Byju Raveendran cancelled tha plan to shut the Thiruvananthapuram office. While 170 employees had earlier alleged that they were under pressure to resign, now 140 associates will continue to work at the product development centre. Following reports by Technopark’s community media platform about Byju’s planning to exit Kerala, Raveendran also reiterated his commitment to the state.

Trouble in another state

Apart from Kerala, Byju’s is also facing similar allegations of forcing people to quit in Bengaluru, but it has denied those claims. Earlier this week, Raveendran had also written a letter apologising to those laid off, and asked them to see it as a time off. Without setting a specific timeline, the CEO went on to add that employees will be hired again once Byju’s achieves sustainable growth.