Reports about deal talks with Byju's false, says Vedantu

Edtech platform Vedantu on Friday termed reports of its discussions with Byju’s for a potential buyout as “false” and said it is not “remotely considering anything of this sort”.

Reports earlier in the day suggested that talks are underway between the two companies for the past few weeks and have reached an advanced stage, where Byju’s is offering a $700-800 million deal to Vedantu.

In an e-mailed statement, Vedantu said: “This information is completely false and no such discussions have taken place with Byju’s and we are not considering anything like this”.

Vedantu co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Vamsi Krishna took to social media platforms, LinkedIn, and Twitter to clarify on the reports.

“I normally don’t react to these, as by the frequency of them, if these were true, we would have been sold over 4-5 times by now. This information is 100 per cent absolutely false and V are not doing or even remotely considering anything of this sort,” he wrote.

Krishna said he, along with Pulkit Jain and Anand Prakash, and Vedantu employees aim is to create one of the world’s largest Impact companies.

“Having a significant purpose and meaning is one of the most precious things in life, Vedantu is that meaning for us. This is not only our dream but a dream every Vedan lives by. It’s way too precious to be sold or given away,” he further wrote.

In June, the online live tutoring platform Vedantu had said it expects its revenue run rate to more than double to $200 million and hit profitability by June next year.

Vedantu has seen month-on-month revenue growth of 50 per cent in April and May this year. Its revenue grew 4x in May 2021 over last year and its current revenue run rate is at about $60 million, it had said.

The platform has over 30 million registered users.

In July last year, Vedantu had announced a $100 million (about Rs 752 crore) fundraise, led by US-based investment firm Coatue. The Series D round, which had seen participation from existing investors as well, had pushed Vedantu’s valuation to $600 million.

The edtech space has seen strong growth globally, including in India, with the Covid-19 pandemic serving as an inflection point.

A number of offline classes went online to ensure continuity of education while adhering to social distancing norms.

A number of players have raised fresh funding from investors, along with consolidation.

Byju’s has been on an acquisition spree with the buyout of Aakash Educational Services for about a billion dollars, Singapore-headquartered Great Learning for $600 million (about Rs 4,466 crore), and US-based digital reading platform Epic for $500 million (around Rs 3,729.8 crore). The edtech major is estimated to have raised $1.5 billion in funding in multiple tranches since April last year.

Byju’s (Think & Learn Pvt Ltd) is backed by marquee investors, including General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Naspers, Silver Lake, and Tiger Global.