New Delhi: In a recent research note, HSBC has revised its estimation of the value of Byju’s, the Indian edtech company, once valued at $22 billion, to now being worth nothing. This is a big drop in value and is unusual for a big company like Byju’s.
Byju’s had a tough year. They had trouble telling people about their finances and missed their goals by more than half because they had some problems with how they were run. Some important people in the company left suddenly, which made it hard for them to raise $1 billion like they wanted.
One of Byju’s big investors, called Prosus, got mad at Byju’s and said they didn’t listen to good advice, When Byju’s needed money, they only got $200 million, which isn’t a lot compared to what they wanted. But now, some of the big investors are arguing about this money, including Prosus.
Because of all this arguing and money trouble, HSBC says Prosus’ part of Byju’s is worth nothing. Prosus has put more than $500 million into Byju’s over time and hasn’t sold any of its part.
Furthermore, HSBC revised the valuations of other assets, including Stack Overflow and GoodHabitz, which were acquired by Prosus. Stack Overflow, acquired for $1.8 billion, is now valued at $900 million, while GoodHabitz is estimated to be worth $100 million, down from $200 million.
HSBC explained that it applies a 50% discount to the latest funding round or acquisition price for assets where the last round occurred more than six months ago, to reflect the recent correction in comparable edtech and SaaS companies’ public sector multiples.
Byju’s didn’t say anything about this when HSBC asked.
