Ed-tech major Byju’s promoters Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath and Riju Raveendran have sold shares worth $408.53 million in 40 secondary transactions since 2015.

According to analysis by market intelligence platform PrivateCircle Research, promoter stake in the company has declined from 71.6 per cent to 21.2 per cent since 2015-16.

Since 2015, Byju Raveendran personally sold 29,306 shares worth $3.28 million, his wife and co-founder Divya Gokulnath sold 64,565 shares worth $29.40 million, and brother Riju Raveendran sold 3,37.911 shares worth $375.83 million .

reinvestment claim

Recently, in a townhall address to employees, Raveendran had reportedly said that “By investing the entire amount received through the secondary sale back into the company, my commitment to the mission and belief in the potential of Byju’s is unwavering and unwavering “

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Over the past few years, a number of investors participated in Byju’s secondary transactions, including Silver Lake Partners, BlackRock, T Rowe Price, Chan Zuckerberg, Owl Ventures, Naspers, Times Internet, Lightspeed Ventures, Proxima Beta, Naspers Ventures, General Atlantic and Alcan. Is. ,

discounted deals

These secondary deals were often executed at discounted valuations compared to the company’s primary valuation at the time.

For example, secondary sales during Series F fund-raises saw an average discount of 53 percent. During this round, Byju’s promoters sold their shares in the price range of ₹1,12,126 to ₹1,64,000 per piece, while the Series F primary share price was in the range of ₹2,13,042-2,37,336, PrivateCircle said. Said report.

promoters buy

Since 2012, Byju Raveendran bought a total of 31,960 shares from multiple sellers, including Raveendran Kunnaruvath (Raveendran’s father), and Byju employees Arunangshu Bhakta, Brijesh Maheshbhai Patel, Smit Rajnikant Patel, Unique Jain and Praveen Prakash.

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Additionally, Divya Gokulnath bought 4,666 shares from Naveen Balan and Priya Mohan (founders of Vidyarth). Byju’s had acquired Vidyartha in 2017. Riju Raveendran had also bought 100 shares from Mrinal Mohit (COO of BYJU’s). However, the value of these secondary purchases was not determined.

Today, Byju’s promoters hold 21.2 per cent stake in the edtech company. Individually, Raveendran holds 15.90 per cent, Divya Gokulnath holds 3.32 per cent and Riju Raveendran holds 1.99 per cent. The promoters’ stake has been gradually falling since 2016. The first significant decline was from 71.6 percent to 54.7 percent in 2015–2016. It will come down to 34.7 percent in 2019 and 21.2 percent in 2023.

However, sources with knowledge of the developments claimed that the entire amount the family received through the secondary sale has been reinvested in the business. business Line The claim could not be independently verified.