- Byju Raveendran, the founder of the Indian education technology firm Byju’s, faces a court-ordered insolvency process for his ed-tech giant.
- Byju’s has experienced a dramatic drop in valuation from $22 billion to under $2 billion, leading to insolvency proceedings that risk thousands of jobs.
OUR TAKE
Byju’s, India’s leading ed-tech company, led by founder Byju Raveendran, was once valued at a whopping $22 billion and was highly sought after by global investors. However, due to financial mismanagement, aggressive expansion and market strategy issues, this company has suffered a severe financial crisis and is now facing court-ordered bankruptcy proceedings. The fiasco not only affects the fate of Byju’s itself, but also the livelihoods of its 27,000 employees.
–Elodie Qian, BTW reporter
What happened
Byju Raveendran, the founder of the Indian education technology firm Byju’s, faces a court-ordered insolvency process for his ed-tech giant. His company’s valuation plummets from $22 billion to under $2 billion due to financial mismanagement, unpaid dues, and aggressive expansion. The outcome will decide the future of the company and its 27,000 employees.
The 44-year-old entrepreneur, who hails from a family of teachers in a small South Indian village, has been accused of “financial mismanagement and compliance issues”.
Byju’s inability to pay $19 million in sponsorship fees to the the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) led to the suspension of its board and make Raveendran report to a court-appointed restructuring expert.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal is set to hear the case on Monday after the former billionaire will argue that his company remains solvent and that insolvency could lead to its closure and job losses for thousands of staff. Insolvency also would not bode well for Byju’s backers, such as Dutch technology investor Prosus.
Raveendran has denied the allegations of mismanagement and has faced lawsuits over unpaid loans and public boardroom disputes with foreign investors.
Also read: Amazon to invest $11bn in Indiana data centres
Also read: Ex-OpenAI engineer launches AI-integrated education platform
Why it’s important
The potential insolvency marks a dramatic shift for an entrepreneur described as an extremely passionate goal-oriented person, who might adopt “an abrasive approach” in a crisis.
Despite Raveendran presented a “suave, nice and polished” image and appearing to heed advice, but “eventually there was a trust deficit”, said a former senior vice president who left Byju’s last year.
Behind the reversal of Byju’s meteoric success, say executives and advisers who worked with Raveendran, is that he overruled associates and expanded the business through expensive acquisitions, splurging on marketing and being slow to address problems such as sales agents adopting aggressive tactics to mis-sell courses that damaged the company’s reputation.
With support from investors like General Atlantic, Prosus, and the philanthropy venture of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Raveendran spent millions on acquisitions and the company claims to have 150 million students across over 100 countries.
“While growing fast, as I’ve accepted multiple times, we’ve made our fair share of mistakes,” Raveendran told an interviewer last year at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The CEO also stated that decisions to cut costs and lay off employees would help Byju’s become profitable as he battled crises.
“Every country needs a Byju’s,” Raveendran said, expressing his belief in the company’s global potential.
