Pod Insights Finshots Daily The battle for BYJU’s remains About this episode In today’s episode on 19th November 2025, we talk about why BYJU’s parent company is finding bidders despite being under insolvency proceedings and mostly defunct.
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Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Hello folks, you're tuned into Finshots Daily. In today's episode, we talk about why Baidu's parent company is finding bidders despite being under insolvency proceedings and mostly defunct.
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1:00 Speaker 00 Over three years ago, Think and Learn Private Limited, the parent company of Baidu's, was a crown jewel of India's edtech ecosystem. At one point, it was the most valuable startup in India, valued at about $22 billion. Everyone had heard of or seen Baidu's. Even India's cricket team had Baidu's splashed across its jerseys. Confident in its dominance, the company went about on acquisition spree, snapping up firms like White Hat Junior, Great Learning, Akash, etc., one after the other. This was Baidu's broader goal of expanding aggressively in the K-12 learning sector and with these acquisitions, they're also entity prep and upskilling services.
1:42 Speaker 00 Baidu's even planned on expanding its business to North America, which is one of the reasons why it secured a massive $1.2 billion term loan in November 2021.
1:53 Speaker 00 This rapid expansion wasn't by mistake. You see, after the pandemic, Baiju's saw the opportunity for growth in the learning industry. From K12, it wanted to become an educational super app, where you would learn from your school level to advanced test prep, like NEET, JE, and even IS exams, and no company was offering everything under one umbrella. So, the logic was to scale fast and dominate early. But that loan came with strings attached. Orited financials, credit ratings, disclosures, and more. It wasn't free money and it was also much more than the initial ask of $700 million. As time passed, the missteps of the company began piling up. For starters, the audited statements arrived with an 18-month delay
2:38 Speaker 00 and after the Ministry of Corporate Affairs had to write to Baiju's. Its auditor raised concerns about how Baiju's recognized its revenues. When the FY21 filings would arrive, it showed a massive loss of about 4,588 crore rupees. This was the moment when the hyper-growth locked horns with the reality of operations. The delayed filings would lead to lenders asking Baiju's to repay the loan immediately because to them, Baiju's had breached the agreement of the loan. What followed was a battle between lenders and Baiju's, auditing concerns, corporate governance issues, and all the vile customers, that's parents of Baiju's students, started complaining about the aggressive selling practices like misselling that plagued the company.
3:23 Speaker 00 Even employee salaries were unpaid and at the start of the year, the parent company TLPL was pushed into corporate insolvency resolution process, that's CIRP. Translation: Baiju's is effectively defunct. On paper, it looked like another edtech startup that burned too quickly after the pandemic. As schools reopened, demand for online learning plummeted and that looked like the last chapter. But something unexpected happened. The insolvency should have scared off any bias from investing or taking over the firm. The reputational damage, not to mention the long list of issues with the company, would be enough to send any investor running the other way. Instead, the insolvency announcement brought in an expression of interest,
4:05 Speaker 00 that's EOI, from two major players in the edtech sector.
4:11 Speaker 00 Roni Screwala of Upgrad and Manipal Education and Medical Group's Ranjan Pai, which already own a stake in Akash Educational Services. A little side note here, an expression of interest is an official document that shows interest of a company or person to take part in a professional opportunity which in this case was a takeover of TLPL Limited. Now, their EOI's genuinely raised some questions with the most important being, why would serious players in the Etik space who have enough reasons to stay away from TLPL want to acquire the bankrupt Etik company? Now, on the surface, the brand had taken a beating and its finances were wrecked. But for Upgrad and MEMG, the takeover wasn't about rescuing Pai juice.
4:54 Speaker 00 It was about the two assets beneath the wreck that kept their shine. Akash Educational Services and Great Learning. The paradox was written on the wall. While TLPL drowns, its assets are still bringing in investors. Think of a failing company's assets like mangoes at a fruit market. On day one, when the mangoes are fresh and perfectly ripe, they command a premium price. Everybody wants them and sellers can charge a premium. If you want the best, you pay the best. But give that small stall a couple of days, the mangoes don't look as fresh as they used to, the skin wrinkles and fruit softens. The seller needs to sell it all before it spoils and they know they can't charge the same price as day one. Now, suddenly you as a buyer have all the bargaining power.
5:39 Speaker 00 And here's the key, even though they look a little bruised on the outside, many of the mangoes inside are still perfectly good. Sweet, usable and worth buying. That's what happens in insolvency. On the outside, the company looks like it's going to be bad, be it the brand, the finances or the debt. But on the inside, some assets like Great Learning and Akash still look like high-quality, high-value assets. This collapse simply allows investors to buy these assets at a discounted price. So, in reality, they're not buying a bad batch of mangoes. They're just picking the good ones inside on the clearance sale price. For the Manipal Group, it was more about buying up stake in Akash Educational Services, where it is already a majority stakeholder.
6:24 Speaker 00 They became the largest shareholder in 2024 and if this bid turns out to be successful, they'd get to own the profitable offline institute at a fairer value. So far, the group has submitted two E O Is for a T L P L and for a while, it was a sole bidder until Upgrad entered the picture. You see, for Upgrad, the value lies in the K 12 learning segment along with Akash and Great Learning. A few weeks ago, they were in talks to take over Unacademy, another test prep platform for a valuation of $300 million. That's a tenth of its peak valuation of $3 billion in 2021. Adding Baiju's assets would strengthen their position in India's learning industry with little to no competition.
7:07 Speaker 00 Whatever vision Baiju's had, the competition seems to be taking forward and that's where the value in these acquisitions lie. Not in the Baiju's brand, but the pieces that are still worth saving today. Yet, the road ahead isn't as easy as it looks. Because insolvency proceedings take time and behind them are thousands of investors and stakeholders waiting for their dues. So, let's circle back to the mangoes for a moment now. When you agree to buy this slightly old batch from the seller, you're also agreeing to take the parts that are bruised, chivalled or unusable. That's part of the bargain. Sellers rarely agree to hand over only the best pieces because from their perspective, the entire lot needs to be sold and the leftovers have no value to them.
7:49 Speaker 00 At the Insolvency Court, G L A S Trust Company is representing Baiju's term loan B lenders and their claim is the single largest of them all, tied to the $1.2 billion loan issued back in November 2021. The founders have contested this voting share, but G L A S Trust remains as the biggest voice of the insolvency proceedings. In insolvency, the biggest claim usually gets the loudest voice, which means that G L A S has veto power over the committee of credit. The panel of lenders who decide the fate of the company. So, even if Upgrad and the Manipal Group won the crown jewels, the final say doesn't lie with them. It's with the committee of creditors or C O C. Because in an insolvency process, the C O C doesn't see offers based on the bidder.
8:32 Speaker 00 It's based on which proposal recovers the most money for creditors. Here, that's not just the investors, it's lenders and employees who haven't seen salaries for a while. So, for now, all eyes are on the insolvency proceedings. Akash and Great Learning may survive, T L P L may not. And only time will tell who walks away with what's left. All right, folks, I will see you in the next one. Have a wonderful Wednesday. Thank you for listening to today's episode. And if you want to share your feedback or suggestions, do drop us an email to [email protected] . Until next time.
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