BYJU’s receives a clean bill of health from Deloitte

BYJU’s received an “unqualified” report from Deloitte last week, to the relief of the Indian government and BYJU’s investors alike. An “unqualified” report says that the financial statements from BYJU’s are transparent and fair based on all the research that Deloitte did. BYJU’s has been delaying a full report on its fiscal year that ended March 2021, and the Indian government has been probing them to publish those results. According to unnamed insiders, that will happen sometime this week.

BYJU’s is the world’s largest EdTech company valued at US$22.6 billion, and it has acquired that status somewhat quietly in the US. The heat from India’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs for delaying the release of their audited financial records has brought them into the forefront at the same time as rumors swirled of their acquisition of 2U, a company that just announced layoffs for 20% of its workforce. It is still not clear if the potential acquisition and layoffs were linked.

BYJU’s also seems to be raising more funding. It looks like they are trying to raise $4-500M from Abu Dhabi’s Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), an amount that is far from unheard of, given the fact that Chan-Zuckerberg and a few others gave the company $400M last year. The goal seems to be to gain enough cash to fund the more global, and especially US based, acquisitions that they seem to have their eyes on. In 2021 alone they bought GeoGebdra, Great Learning for US $600 million, Tynker for US $200 million, Osmo, Epic for US $500 million, and Aakash Educational Services for $1 billion. 

BYJU’s also had a prominent presence in this year’s ISTE convention, and have partnered with a number of celebrities including LeVar Burton and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

BYJU’s fortunes could mirror the fortunes of EdTech generally. So far they have been walled off from any direct impact on the US market, but with all the VC funding and acquisitions, anything that happens with BYJU’s could send ripples around the market.