On Friday, media reports said India’s Byju’s had paid Blackstone Inc Rs 19 billion ($234 million) as part of its $950 million takeover of Aakash Educational, as part of what it owes the private equity firm.

Thursday’s payment was for Blackstone’s roughly 38% stake in the Learning Center chain, which Byju acquired in April 2021.

Byju’s paid all Aakash shareholders except Blackstone when the deal closed, the sources said, as the private equity firm had agreed to defer payments.

The settlement of dues comes against surging losses at India’s popular edtech startup, valued at $22 billion.
Tiger Global-backed Byju’s losses ballooned to Rs 45.64 billion ($574.06 million) in the fiscal year ended March 2021, while its revenue fell 3%.

The company was a huge beneficiary of the boom in demand for online learning during the pandemic and attracted investments from some of the biggest venture capital funds and financiers, including Sequoia Capital and Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, to fund its breakneck pace of growth.

Byju’s, which has become one of the hallmarks of India’s entrepreneurial success, spent $2.5 billion to acquire Aakash in the US, coding platform Tynker for children, professional education firm Great Learning and exam retake platform Toppr for $2.5 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2022.