BlackRock, minority investor in Byju's, has slashed the valuation of its stake in the Bengaluru-based startup again, this time up to about $8.400 billion, even as India's most valuable startup continues to raise capital at a better price.
BlackRock slashed the value of Byju's stake in its holding by around 62% in the quarter ending March this year, from a year ago, it revealed in a filing. BlackRock had cut Byju's valuation to $11.500 billion in October last year. Byju declined to comment.
However, there are a number of caveats that deserve attention: BlackRock is not a substantial shareholder of Byju's, and owns less than 1% of its capital.
A similar move by Prosus, one of Byju's most prominent investors, would have set off red flags for the Indian edtech leader. In addition, it should be noted that valuation methodologies may vary for different investors. Therefore, other investors in the portfolio may have very different views.
Separately, Byju raised $250 million in new funding at a peak valuation of $22.000 billion in early May, indicating the startup continues to be valued higher by other investors.
Invesco has cut Swiggy's valuation in half, and Pine Labs, Ola and PharmEasy have also seen their values cut by some investors.
Recent valuation reductions bring a new perspective to the effects of declining global market conditions on new Indian companies. There was a slowdown in funding activity in the Indian start-up ecosystem last year, but valuations of many of the largest remained unchanged as they either raised capital through convertible notes (thus postponing determination of the price at a later stage), or they chose not to raise funds at all.
