Amid brewing financial troubles and mass layoffs reportedly in the works, Byju unveils three learning models as part of a significant bet on artificial intelligence (AI) transforming its business and enhancing learning and personalization for students.
Education technology startup Byju, just a few days ago, has figured in a $1.2 billion loan dispute with lenders that could jeopardize its future as a high-profile Indian edtech powerhouse.
Byju skipped a quarterly interest payment of about $40 million on the $1.2-billion term loan B (TLB) last week, instead filing a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court against investment management company Redwood to challenge the loan facility and disqualify Redwood – with its “predatory tactics” – as a lender.
Redwood acquiring a significant portion of the loan, mainly via trading in distressed debt, violates the conditions of the term loan facility, Byju argued.
New developments
A group of “21 highly respected global institutional investors,” claiming to own over 85 percent of the TLB taken by Byju, called the edtech firm’s lawsuit “meritless.”
It said it has worked “constructively with the company over the past nine months to cure its numerous defaults,” committing to continue doing so “in good faith.”
Now Byju is reportedly planning to lay off about 1,000 employees in a bid toward cost-cutting, with the sales and marketing teams expected to be most affected by the decision.
The company is valued at $22 billion in its recent funding round.
AI push amid financial troubles
Last June 7, Byju unveiled three transformer models as part of a significant bet on artificial intelligence (AI) transforming its business and enhancing learning and personalization for students.
These models are the predictive AI model Badri, created to identify when learners may start to fail understanding certain concepts; MathGPT, which resolves math problems while teaching students via visual aids and analogies; and TeacherGPT, an AI-powered assistant offering personal guidance and response grading.
The models have about 87 percent accuracy, Dev Roy, chief innovation and learning officer, told TechCrunch.
Byju is led by former teacher Byju Raveendran, who hails from a family of educators.
Raveendran founded his eponymous company in 2015, growing it into one of India’s most valuable startups in the last decade as it leveraged the demand for online education and embarked on a number of acquisitions.
Drawing investments from the likes of Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Byju also considered merging with a special-purposed acquisition company (SPAC) to go public in 2022.
