Latest news with #BYJU'S
News18
19-05-2025
- Business
- News18
‘We Belong In Classrooms': Byju's Founder Targets ‘Original Mission' Amid Legal Troubles
Last Updated: Byju Raveendran opened up about his edtech company's changing dynamics, legal troubles and comeback. After months of legal troubles and financial setbacks, Byju Raveendran is charting a comeback plan for his embattled edtech firm. The Byju's founder and CEO, who once helmed India's most valued startup, said he is ready to take the company 'back to where it all began" — the classroom. Raveendran also addressed the ongoing lawsuits and reflected on the missteps that led to the company's dramatic fall. In a conversation with ANI, Byju Raveendran introduced Byju's 3.0, stating, 'I am so excited to talk to you about it because we both don't belong in courtrooms. We belong in classrooms. That's where we belong. And these classrooms, being based in India, are our biggest advantage. It's a country where there is so much respect for teachers, so much respect for learning." Noting that the company was never about personal gains, he shared that there was only one mission and everything was invested in one place, and thus, he wouldn't be giving up so easily. 'The reason why we are not giving up on BYJU'S is because we owe it to the students, teachers, and employees who trusted us. That's why we're not giving up. BYJU'S 3.0 will stay true to our original mission," he continued. While Raveendran refrained from revealing further details about Byju's 3.0, he teased that the new model could adapt AI learning to enhance teachers and help underperforming students. 'I am not in a position to disclose what that will be. I can assure you that it will again be built on the same mission, which is to create a love for learning for students. Everything that we'll do will create an impact at a scale that we've not been able to do before," he said. Following its rapid expansion during the COVID-19 pandemic, Byju's started facing issues with cash flow, and eventually got into a dispute with creditors over a $1.2 billion term loan in 2021. First Published: May 19, 2025, 09:08 IST
Mint
19-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Byju's co-founder Divya Gokulnath says personal attacks ‘unfair', adds: ‘If we were sitting on millions of dollars…'
Divya Gokulnath, Byju's co-founder and wife of the unicorn's disgraced founder-CEO Byju Raveendran, has refuted allegations that the couple diverted loans to personal accounts, claiming they do not have funds to even hire legal representation in the United States. 'If we truly had hundreds of millions of dollars, we would have had no trouble affording legal representation', Divya Gokulnath claimed in an interview with news agency ANI. Divya Gokulnath told the agency that lawyers are demanding 'millions of dollars' in fees to represent them in US courts. She stated, 'Today, in the US, judgements are passed back to back to us by one court. Because we don't have representation.' 'I'll show you emails where they say, give us a million dollars. Lawyers are saying, Give us a million dollars or we won't represent. Where do I get the million dollars from? If we were sitting on 533 million dollars, this would not be the situation, right? We would have been fighting in the courts. We would have thrown money at lawyers,' she added. Notably, BYJU'S is fighting legal battles over unpaid debts across courts in the US and India. She further called 'personal attacks' on her and Byju Raveendran 'unfair'. 'Honestly, I don't care about the money. It comes, it goes. And Lakshmi can come and go. Saraswati is with us. Goddess Saraswati is always with us. For me, it's about the tarnishing which has happened, which I feel is so unfair,' she said. Gokulnath added, 'It was all about what we could do for our country. And not what the country can do for us. So we are a made in India, made by Indians, proudly made for the world's product, service, company, people, students-first company.' She added that while many entrepreneurs move abroad to pursue their ventures, the couple's vision was to build BYJU'S as a homegrown "Make in India" success story. 'At the time when people were going abroad and setting up their companies because that was much more lucrative, we resisted it. We said, no, this has to be a make in India story. We will make our products in India. We will give our services from India and we will be an example for the world in education. Because education belongs to India,' Gokulnath said. Divya Gokulnath also alleged that a targeted campaign of intimidation and pressure tactics was mounted aimed at isolating her husband, Byju Raveendran, by threatening those close to him, including family members, colleagues, and even legal counsel. Referring to incidents where unknown individuals reportedly visited the homes of management personnel, Byju Raveendran, the founder and the CEO of BYJU's, expressed concern, stating, "People get scared when somebody walks in, intrudes into a home in the context of not having answers." Despite all these troubles, Gokulnath asserted that it is the truth and the final mission that bind all of them together. "I think indirectly that's what they're trying to say. They're saying stand-off, or maybe create a lot of reputational damage so that you say, okay, you know what, I'll stay out of this. It's not going to happen because there is something, there is truth that binds all of us together. There is the final mission that binds all of us together," she asserted.
Economic Times
18-05-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Byju's CEO Raveendran defends startup strain, says "toxic work culture can cause PTSD, but it can also lead to post-traumatic growth"
ANI "I'll never sell anything which I won't give to my son": BYJU'S founder Raveendran Toxic work culture can cause PTSD, but for those who are mission-driven, it can also lead to 'post-traumatic growth,' said Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO of edtech firm BYJU'S. In his first extended public remarks since the company entered crisis, Raveendran defended his role, rejected accusations of wrongdoing, and introduced 'Byju's 3.0'—a vision that returns focus to teachers and to ANI, Raveendran explained why he refused to walk away when the company was on the brink. 'A good teacher will never leave students halfway,' he said. 'The teacher in me stood up, and we didn't shut down the businesses. We had to complete the course.' Despite a storm of legal and financial troubles, he said the team kept operations alive because of a shared commitment to education. Once valued at $22 billion, Byju's is now mired in lawsuits and cash flow challenges. The most serious charge is a $533 million fund transfer linked to its US financing arm, Byju's Alpha. Raveendran, along with his wife Divya Gokulnath and former executive Anita Kishore, is accused of diverting the loan amount. Raveendran dismissed the allegations, saying, 'They are clearly telling there is no fraud, but they are trying to make it look like there is... The goal is to create a narrative that suits their interests.' He alleged that Glas Trust, the lender's trustee, is part of a wider campaign to discredit him and the company. 'These are narratives that they have created in trying to take control of the company,' he said. 'Unfortunately, in a company that is built on the founder's name... if you tarnish the founder's name, it'll have a huge impact on the company's valuation.' Clarifying the nature of the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) inquiry, Raveendran stressed that there is no case against him personally. 'It was on the Think & Learn transactions... there was never a PMLA. There was never a chargesheet. There were summons, I went and met, we cooperated. Investigation is closed,' he told ANI. He also addressed reports about a lookout circular, saying, 'If ED puts out a lookout notice, they will never make that public because that defeats the purpose... it was never personal.'Raveendran claimed that a handful of US-based hedge funds and lenders exploited the situation. 'I'm not blaming all our investors. But there are a few rotten apples... a couple of US-based lenders. They've made more money than anyone could have imagined from Byju's,' he referred to them as 'vulture lenders' and accused them of derailing his long-term goal of creating a million teaching jobs in India. 'It's not a conspiracy by many. It's literally two hedge funds—some Americans and a few Indians based in the US,' he faced a major liquidity crunch after failing to secure $700 million in committed funding. Raveendran attributed the shortfall to global economic shocks but acknowledged some internal errors on a key decision, he said, 'That was the only mistake. We shouldn't have taken that term loan when we had enough equity options.' The company had already raised $5 billion before taking the $1 billion loan in 2021. 'It wasn't out of desperation. It was a collective decision—but in hindsight, we shouldn't have taken that loan,' he rejected the idea that he had benefited personally from the company's rise. 'I never saw the money come. I never saw it go. We invested everything we had in one mission—Byju's,' he said. 'We have no other investments. My entire investment is in Byju's.'His wife, Divya Gokulnath, echoed this sentiment. 'If I have a circle of 10 people, Byju has a circle of 5. We don't go out, we don't party, we don't network. For us, it's always been about the company and our family,' she said. 'We don't own any luxury cars. We don't own any luxury homes… It's always been about what we can do for our country.'Byju's expanded rapidly during the pandemic, riding a wave of investor enthusiasm. But that pace may have come at a cost. 'When we tried expanding from India to the whole world, we made some business mistakes. Maybe we could have taken it a little bit slowly,' Raveendran said. He added that investor pressure was a key factor. 'We have 160 world-class investors. All of them—this was the mandate: grow, grow, grow and change the way kids learn.'Now, he hopes to rebuild from a more grounded place. 'Why shouldn't I fight to protect what I've built over the last 20 years, what we've built together with 85,000 employees?' he asked. 'When we make a comeback, it will be on the same mission—but we will be more flexible in how we operate. We've learned a lot of lessons along the way.'Looking ahead, Raveendran said Byju's 3.0 will focus on simplifying and enriching learning with the help of technology. 'How do we make it easy and interesting for students? How can we use AI not to replace teachers but to enable teachers to become better teachers?' he founder closed with a reminder of where the company began: in a classroom. 'We don't belong in courtrooms, we belong in classrooms. That's where we belong,' he said. 'And these classrooms, being based out of India, are our biggest advantage.'
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Business Standard
18-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Byju Raveendran eyes return via AI model, says students will be compensated
BYJU'S founder and CEO Byju Raveendran has publicly apologised for the disruptions in the edtech firm's services that impacted thousands of students last year, vowing to compensate those affected and promising a comeback with a leaner, AI-powered model. In an interview with news agency ANI, Byju Raveendran expressed regret over the distress caused to students, acknowledging that a few thousand learners missed out on course continuity due to the company's financial crisis. 'Even if it's one student, it still cannot happen,' he said, noting the disruption began in September 2023 when insolvency-related challenges halted teacher payments. Despite this, Raveendran stressed that the core product remained functional. 'Millions of students got our product, happily learned from it, and finished their courses. The product part was not disrupted,' he said. 'I owe them compensation': Byju Raveendran on affected students Raveendran said he is actively working on ways to compensate the affected students. 'Even if one student has missed out in the last six months, I will today apologise to them, but we'll compensate for it.' He defended the company's decision not to abruptly cut operations despite investor pressure. 'We didn't shut down businesses because course completion matters when it comes to students. You have to finish what you start,' he said. New model, same mission: BYJU'S 3.0 to focus on AI Looking ahead, Raveendran outlined his plans for BYJU'S 3.0, an AI-driven platform aimed at making education more accessible and engaging. 'It's going to be the same mission—how do we make it easy and interesting for students?' he said. He highlighted the potential of AI not to replace but empower educators and make one-on-one tutoring scalable. 'There is now an opportunity to almost productise the service part—one personal tutor for every student,' he said. Raveendran claimed that more students are using BYJU'S platforms today than two years ago, with 250 million learners across platforms. 'That's five times more than anyone else—if you can even call them a competitor,' he added. 'Mistakes were made, but we corrected them' Addressing criticism of aggressive sales tactics, Raveendran admitted some errors but distanced the company's philosophy from such practices. 'We were selling the love for learning. A few hundred of the tens of thousands of salespeople made mistakes, but we corrected them.' He insisted that he would never sell anything he wouldn't offer his own child. 'I will never sell any product that is not used at home or something I wouldn't give my son. He learned the fundamentals of math and coding through WhiteHat Junior,' he said. 'We won't give up till we win' The company, once India's edtech darling, has been battling regulatory, financial, and legal headwinds after its meteoric rise during the Covid-19 pandemic. Still, Raveendran remains defiant. 'We are not able to fight this media battle. It's like large corporations on the other side. But we are not giving up. How do you beat a person who never gives up?' he said. Founded in 2011, BYJU'S soared during the pandemic as millions of students moved online. Its crash, as dramatic as its rise, has raised questions about the viability of scale-first edtech models. Raveendran, however, believes BYJU'S 3.0 can spark a fresh beginning—with fewer resources, more technology, and a promise to do right by students.
India Gazette
18-05-2025
- Business
- India Gazette
Aakash Institute among
Dubai [UAE], May 18 (ANI): BYJU'S founder, Byju Raveendran has described the acquisition of Aakash Institute as one of his 'best acquisitions' and admitted that acquiring WhiteHat Jr was a 'business mistake.' 'It's one of our best acquisitions now. At that point in time, that was 5 per cent of the valuation of Think and Learn. And we thought that there is a huge opportunity to what was available only to a few students in big metros, making the same kind of options available to small towns. So we, after the acquisition, actually took Akash (Institute) to small towns. What was reaching out to only a few parts of India? the same programme, we made it available to 300-plus senders within 18 months of taking over. It was actually one of our best acquisitions,' Raveendran said in an interview with ANI. Edtech BYJU's in April 2021 acquired Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL) for nearly USD 950 million. The deal was a cash-and-stock deal, and the acquisition was one of the largest in the Indian startup ecosystem. The deal involved a 70 per cent cash component and a 30 per cent equity component. 'Today, all this narrative around acquisitions - like we made mistakes - like when you make six big acquisitions, four of them are doing well but everyone talks about the two, and that's how it works, right?' Raveendran further said. Talking about the acquisition of WhiteHat Jr, an online coding and coding-related skills platform for children, Raveendran admitted that it was a 'business mistake', although the concept was unique. '....those are all business mistakes. now I am like today; even though that came through an acquisition, the concept of WhiteHat Jr, what would have really changed is teachers in India teaching students anywhere in the world who wanted to learn math from Indian teachers. Like, that's a huge opportunity lost,' he said. Founder of one of the most valuable edtech companies in the country, with about USD 22 billion valuation in 2022, also acknowledged that the company made 'some business mistakes' when it expanded 'too fast' to 21 countries due to the 'mandate' from the world-class investors. Raveendran revealed that the decision, made collectively with board members including investor and founder directors, was not driven by desperation, as the company had raised USD 5 billion earlier. The Bengaluru-based edtech company is facing financial problems, regulatory issues, and legal battles. Think & Learn Pvt Ltd (TLPL), the Byju's parent company, has been admitted into insolvency proceedings. (ANI)
