Byju’s minority investor, Blackrock, has once again reduced the valuation of its investment in the Bengaluru-based business, this time to around $8.4 billion, even though India’s most valuable startup is still successfully raising finance at better prices.
In a filing, Blackrock revealed that the value of Byju’s share had been reduced by 62% year over year for the quarter ended in March.
Nonetheless, some caveats require consideration: Byju does not count Blackrock as a major investor because the investment firm owns less than 1% of the company.
Byju, the market leader in India’s burgeoning edtech industry, likely would have been more alarmed if one of its more notable investors, Prosus, had taken a similar tack. It’s also important to remember that different investors may use different approaches to valuing. Consequently, other portfolio investors may have very different opinions.
Byju’s also raised $250 million in new fundraising earlier this month at a valuation cap of $22 billion, showing that other investors continue to value the firm at higher and higher amounts.
Blackrock’s revised estimate is the most recent in a string of cuts to the Indian startup ecosystem’s market value. Invesco has halved Swiggy’s valuation, while some investors have also reduced those of Pine Labs and Pharmeasy.