Byju Raveendran pledges homes to pay Byju's staff salaries

Edtech major Byju's owner and entrepreneur Byju Raveendran has reportedly pledged his home, as well as those owned by his family members, to raise money to pay employees amidst a cash crunch.

According to Bloomberg, citing sources, two homes owned by the 43-year-old Raveendran’s family in Bengaluru, and his under-construction villa in the city, were offered as collaterals to borrow $12 million (over Rs 100 crore) to pay salaries to employees.

"The startup used the funds to pay salaries to 15,000 employees in Byju’s parent firm, Think & Learn Pvt Ltd," the report added.

According to the report, and once again citing sources, Raveendran, once worth almost $5 billion (over Rs 4,100 crore), has raised debts of about $400 million on a personal level, pledging all his shares in the parent company.

Meanwhile, Byju’s paid pending salaries of some of its employees on Monday after a "technical glitch" hampered the payment of some 1,000 workers.

Sources had told IANS on Monday that the company paid salaries to the remaining employees on Monday. When contacted, Byju’s did not officially comment.

In an earlier statement, the company had said it was working to resolve the issue and pay the remaining employees. "We have noticed a delay in processing salaries for some limited employees (less than 5 per cent) due to an unexpected technical glitch. The issue is being rectified over the weekend and payment will be processed by Monday," said a Byju’s spokesperson.

The salary delay for about 1,000 employees appears to have affected employees across levels. However, employees affiliated with Akash Institute have not been impacted.