New Delhi: Asset manager BlackRock, holding a stake of less than 1% in the struggling edtech firm, has reduced its valuation of the company.

According to a report by TechCrunch, Byju‘s, the edtech firm that was once India’s most valuable startup at $22 billion, has experienced a substantial 95% decrease in its valuation and is now worth $1 billion.

According to the report, as of the end of October 2023, asset manager BlackRock assigned a value of $209.6 per share to its holdings in Byju‘s. This valuation equates to $1 billion, a significant decline from the peak valuation in 2022 when each share was valued at $4660, amounting to a total valuation of $22 billion. It’s worth noting that BlackRock‘s ownership stake in the Bengaluru-based company is less than 1%.

BlackRock, similar to other mutual fund investors, periodically discloses information about its portfolio throughout the year. However, the reports do not typically provide a detailed explanation for the adjustments made to the valuation. Additionally, this isn’t the first instance where BlackRock has reduced the value of its holdings in the beleaguered edtech major.

Furthermore, BlackRock is not the sole investor that has significantly lowered its valuation of the startup. However, this adjustment by BlackRock is the most substantial among those made for the company founded by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath. Prosus, holding approximately 9% stake, announced late last year that its valuation of the unicorn was estimated to be ‘sub $3 billion.’

The downgrade represents a remarkable turnaround for Byju‘s, a company that invested over $2.5 billion in acquisitions from 2021 to 2022, acquiring more than half a dozen firms on a global scale. With backing from Peak XV Partners, Lightspeed, UBS, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Byju‘s has successfully raised over $5 billion through a combination of equity and debt over the past decade.