Byju Raveendran | Business Upturn

BYJU’s CEO Arjun Mohan resigns from company, Raveendran to take over ops

Markets Desk — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 04:12:53 +0000

BYJU’s today morning (Monday, April 15) announced that their CEO Arjun Mohan has resigned from the company and will now take on an external advisory role. The company said that it has announced a major reorganization to streamline its operations and position the company for long-term success. The changes follow an extensive seven-month operational review and cost optimization exercise led by outgoing BYJU’S India CEO Arjun Mohan. Mohan will now transition to an external advisory role, lending his deep EdTech expertise to the company and its founders during this transformation phase.

“This reorganization marks the start of BYJU’S 3.0 – a leaner and more agile organization ready to quickly adapt to evolving market dynamics, especially in the realm of hyper-personalized education,” said Byju Raveendran, Founder and Group CEO of the company. “By focusing on our core strengths with three specialized business units, we will unlock new growth opportunities while continuing to focus on profitability.” “Arjun has done an outstanding job steering BYJU’S through a challenging period,” he added. “We are grateful for his leadership and look forward to his continued contributions as a strategic advisor.”

Byju’s founder pledges properties for $12 million amid crisis

Dimple Gehlot — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 13:38:28 +0000

The founder of Byju’s, Byju Raveendran, reportedly raised $12 million using his own home and family members’ assets as collateral in an attempt to pay employee salaries amidst a difficult financial time for the business.

The collateral consists of one under-construction villa at Epsilon, an affluent gated community in Bengaluru, South India, and two family-owned properties in Bengaluru. The borrowed money was used on Monday to pay the salaries of almost 15,000 workers at Think & Learn Pvt., the parent business of Byju’s.

The founder of Byju’s, who is struggling financially, has taken a number of actions to help the business overcome its present difficulties. Byju’s, formerly India’s most valuable software startup, is selling its children’s digital reading platform for almost $400 million, with its headquarters located in the United States. It is also entangled in a lawsuit with creditors over a $1.2 billion term loan that has interest payments that are past due.

Raveendran, who was formerly estimated to be worth close to $5 billion, has apparently racked up personal debt totaling over $400 million, for which he has pledged all of his parent company shares.

Byju’s disclosed in its last financial report that Think & Learn’s losses had decreased somewhat as a result of the pandemic’s increased activity. The startup is presently waiting on the results of an Indian federal agency’s probe into its foreign fundraising. As per a recent release, the corporation expects any penalties that may arise to be insignificant.

BYJU’s shows door to another 100 employees citing performance issues

Adesh Dixit — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 12:22:00 +0000

BYJU’S, a major player in the edtech industry, terminated 100 employees as part of a performance assessment after placing them on a PIP.

The troubled edtech company’s representative insisted that the decision to fire staff was neither a cost-cutting strategy nor a layoff exercise.

No new layoffs have been announced for the post-sale division… However, 100 people who failed to live up to expectations following a performance improvement plan were fired legally as part of a periodic performance assessment, the spokeswoman said.

The post-sale department at BYJU’S was where the affected employees worked.

The BYJU’S representative continued, “In fact, during the last two months, BYJU’S has hired 200 additional specialists as part of our commitment to expanding this division.

However, according to media sources, the company’s decision had an impact on approximately 400 employees from the mentorship and product expert divisions.

Moneycontrol was the first to report on the development.

The news comes as the edtech behemoth is engaged in a battle on several fronts, including cash flow problems, legal concerns with lenders, multiple rounds of layoffs, board member resignations, valuation markdowns, and delayed financial reporting, among others.

The edtech juggernaut has laid off at least 2,600 workers in the previous six months, including the most recent round of layoffs. According to other media sources, the number may be significantly higher than 5,000, but Inc42 has confirmed this amount.

However, the large debt of the edtech decacorn has lately been restructured, providing some relief. The company is still in contact with the lenders for both its $250 million credit line from Davidson Kempner and its $1.2 billion Term Loan B (TLB).

BYJU’S issues appear to be largely related to the protracted delay in submitting its financial statements. It has not yet submitted its FY22 financial statements. Its net loss increased to INR 4,588 Cr in FY21. After a lengthy wait, the corporation released its FY21 results in September of last year.

BYJU’s creditors agree on amending $1.2 billion loan terms: Details

Adesh Dixit — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 14:19:12 +0000

The steering committee of the creditors group announced on Monday that Byju’s and its lenders, who hold more than 85% of the edtech startup’s $1.2 billion term loan, had agreed to work toward revising that loan by August 3.

The steering committee of ad hoc term loan lenders (the “SteerCo”), who jointly own more than 85% of BYJU’S $1.2 billion term loan, today stated that it and BYJU’S have agreed to cooperate in order to sign and complete a term loan amendment (the “Amendment”) before August 3, 2023. The loan’s acceleration would be promptly resolved by the Amendment’s successful execution, and all pending litigation would be put to rest while preventing additional enforcement efforts.

Regarding the predetermined timeline, SteerCo released the following statement:

“We are thrilled to be moving closer to a finished loan amendment with BYJU’S. This announcement is in line with our stated intention to cooperate with BYJU’S management to preserve the franchise’s worth. We are dedicated to doing our bit to meet the deadline and look forward to finishing the loan amendment during the coming two weeks.

The term loan lender group is advised financially by Houlihan Lokey, while its legal counsel is provided by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, and Shearman & Sterling LLP.

Separately, according to two people who spoke to Reuters on Monday, Byju’s has reduced the number of office spaces it has available in Bengaluru as it works to reduce expenses and increase liquidity after letting go of thousands of staff this year.

BYJU’s assures no more BTC layoffs, agrees to pay incentives to stop protests

Adesh Dixit — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 14:41:07 +0000

People with knowledge of the situation told Moneycontrol that on July 22, an emergency town hall meeting with more than 5,000 Byju’s Tuition Centre (BTC) employees resulted in a commitment from India’s most valuable startup to pay staff variable pay and other incentives while also promising not to fire any BTC employees.

The employees of BTC, who were preparing to organize protests across India on July 25 over a number of issues including the non-payment of production-linked pay and crucial incentives among other things, were meeting with Mrinal Mohit, the de facto head of Byju’s India company, who guided the discussions. According to the further sources, Mohit acknowledged that the business will begin paying incentives from next month onward while stating that variable compensation would be distributed in the next quarter.

According to the people, there was rumor that Byju’s would begin firing BTC staff on July 26 due to a significant decline in tuition center enrollment, which had spurred local business leaders to organize pan-India rallies.

Zia Ur Rehman, Area Business Head of a Byju’s Tuition Center, who was terminated on July 21 with immediate effect, claimed that the town hall was not scheduled; rather, it was held to put an end to the protests on July 25. Rehman, who was the primary organizer of the likely protests on July 25, informed Moneycontrol over the phone on July 22 that he had not received any explanation for why he had been fired.

“The firm has conceded to the major demands, thus for the time being, we have chosen not to continue the protests. Rehman, who attended the townhall with a coworker, continued, “We have three key demands: incentives, flexible compensation, and a pledge from them to not lay off any person. On July 21, Rehman’s email account was disabled immediately.

Rising issues at Byju’s Tuition Centers are just the latest in a long list of issues the most valuable edtech business in the world has been dealing with this year. Among these difficulties include the resignations of auditors and directors, searches by the government, and escalating hostilities with term loan B lenders.

Divya Gokulnath, a co-founder of Byju’s, was undoubtedly very optimistic about Byju’s Tuition Centers. In a January interview with Moneycontrol, Gokulnath stated that Byju’s planned to expand up to 300 physical tutoring facilities by 2023.

“We’re building for the way in which students are learning now — the new way of learning, which is hybrid. So we launched 300 hybrid learning centres last year and we plan to do 300 more this year,” Gokulnath said during the World Economic Forum in Davos.

BYJU’S: Rajnish Kumar & TV Mohandas Pai join advisory board

Adesh Dixit — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 12:00:28 +0000

Indian Ed-tech giant BYJU’S on July 13 announced that Rajnish Kumar and TV Mohandas Pai have accepted their invitation to join the company’s newly constituted Advisory Council.

BYJU’S constituted a advisory council which will play a pivotal role in advising and mentoring BYJU’S Board and its CEO, Byju Raveendran, on crucial matters that shape the company’s future.

The company in its statement said, “The appointment of these two esteemed thought leaders in finance and governance to the Advisory Council underscores BYJU’S commitment to enhancing its financial governance mechanisms and leveraging expert advice to drive sustainable growth and strategic decision-making.”

The founder of BYJU’S, Byju Raveendran in his statement said, “We are truly honoured to welcome Rajnish Kumar and T V Mohandas Pai in the BYJU’S Advisory Council. Their decision to join this council is a resounding vote of confidence in our mission, vision, and strategic direction. Their unparalleled leadership experience and deep understanding of the finance and technology domains will greatly enrich our strategic initiatives and strengthen our governance. With their invaluable insights and expertise, we are confident that we will continue to have a transformative impact on the education landscape.”

Rajnish Kumar while speaking on the occasion said, “My discussions with Byju and Divya convinced me that they are dedicating sincere efforts to steer a course correction of the company’s governance structure. They have reached out to engage with experienced professionals with a proven track record of running large corporates and with a deep understanding of governance issues. The company has achieved an impressive growth trajectory and has built significant scale in its base of revenue, operations, and global presence. With calibrated guidance from experienced advisors who have come together to support these dynamic entrepreneurs, the company will be able to move forward and continue to contribute to this very important field of education.”

TV Mohandas Pai shared a similar feeling over joining the BYJU’S advisory committee, he said, “As part of the Advisory Council, I look forward to advising the leadership in evolving the systems of governance and financial reporting, as well as to grow an organisational structure that can serve as a resilient foundation for the future of the company.”

Byju’s: What lies ahead amid major resignations, investor backouts, funding crunch & inability to release statements?

Avinash Ram — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 02:30:54 +0000

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Peak XV Partners, and Prosus acknowledged on Friday that its representatives had left Byju’s, the most valued company in India, board of directors. The biggest online store in the nation, Byju’s, is also coping with Deloitte’s departure as its auditor this week. The board members’ resignations occurred soon after global auditing firm Deloitte told the startup’s board that it was resigning from its position. Byju’s vehemently refuted the resignations on Thursday. The edtech juggernaut has reportedly failed to submit financial statements for the fiscal year ending March 2022, according to Deloitte, which was expected to work with Byju’s until 2025. Under a structured loan agreement, Byju’s has received $250 million from the US-based alternative investment firm Davidson Kempner Capital Management. The fundraising is taking place at the same time as a significant edtech company with headquarters in Bengaluru is apparently considering seeking more money. According to the Economic Times, which first reported the development, the acquisition was financed by a combination of non-convertible debentures (NCD) and a smaller number of compulsorily convertible debentures (CCDs) linked to Aakash’s final valuation for the upcoming IPO.

Peak XV Partners, formerly known as Sequoia India, announced that one of its partners, GV Ravishankar, had resigned from Byju’s board and stated that it was “committed to supporting the company for appointing an independent director to strengthen internal control systems and business procedures.” For its primary business operations, Byju’s got a $36.5 million collateral-free loan from its wholly-owned subsidiary Aakash in October of last year. Byju’s also managed to get an additional $250 million from previous investors, notably the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). For the unicorn education technology business led by Byju Raveendran, this was the final equity round.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Prosus said that Russell Dreisenstock had formally submitted his resignation as the board director representing MIH Edtech Investments, B.V. (a Prosus subsidiary) on the Think & Learn Private Limited board. The Company shall provide the resignation letter to the MCA in India within the time given. Byju’s has attracted public attention as a result of mass layoffs and ED raids for possible FEMA violations. Three premises that belonged to Raveendran and his company, Think & Learn Private Limited (Byju’s), were recently searched by the ED. However, according to Byju’s, the most recent visit by ED officials was related to a routine FEMA investigation.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative released a statement announcing that Vivian Wu had resigned from the Byju board. After the resignations, only the three co-founders of Byju, Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath, and Riju Raveendran, remain on the board. According to a statement from a Byju’s spokeswoman, the company’s management is in contact with investors to reconstitute the board and that departing members departed because the value of their shares had dropped. BlackRock cut Byju’s valuation by almost half, to $11.5 billion, placing the biggest privately held company in the country in danger of a valuation reduction. The edtech business was valued at $5.97 billion by Prosus in its accounting entry dated November of last year.Despite valuation markdowns, the company appears to be finalising a $1 billion fundraising at its most recent valuation, which was $22 billion.

“A few investors’ shareholdings fell below the minimal level required by our SHA, forcing them to quit from their board seats and forcing reconstitution. We want to reassure everyone that we are actively working to create a board that is exceptional, varied, and appropriate for the size and scope of the company. Problems are getting worse at Byju’s, which is also the most valuable edtech company globally. According to a report on news station CNBC-TV18 that Byju’s later denied, India’s corporate affairs ministry opened an investigation into the company last week due to “various corporate governance lapses” there.

Byju’s revenues only increased by 4% in FY21, going from Rs 2,189 crore in FY20 to Rs 2280 crore in FY21. The company has not yet made its financial information for FY22 public. Losses surged by approximately 15X to Rs 4,564 crore in FY21 from Rs 305 crore in FY20, according to the company’s annual financial records submitted to the Registrar of Companies (RoC). According to the company, FY22 gross revenues were almost Rs 10,000 crore. Deloitte resigned on Thursday after not receiving “any communication” from Byju’s regarding the state of the “audit readiness of the financial statements and the underlying books and records for the year ended March 31 2022.” Byju’s faced increased scrutiny from the government, investors, and creditors last year as a result of its repeated failure to submit its financial statements. Byju’s eventually disclosed sales totals that were below its own projections in September when it released its financial results for the fiscal year that ended in March 2021.

Byju’s former employee says “was always available 24×7 for my company but they told me to resign immediately”

Sidharth Badlani — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:10:21 +0000

Byju’s wave of layoffs has terribly impacted its staff. A former employee has expressed disappointment at being laid off despite 24/7 availability. He is now struggling to find a new job to make ends meet.

Arpit Singh, a former retention manager at Byju’s is one such employee. “I don’t know what my fault was,” Singh wrote on LinkedIn. “I worked very hard throughout my time in Byju’s and I never followed the 10-8 work culture. I was always available 24×7 for my company but they (the HR) came and told me to resign immediately.”

Byju’s Troubles

The company has been in financial trouble for a while now. Recently, Byju’s refused to pay back $40 million in debt to its lenders. It filed a case against the lenders in the New York Supreme Court for demanding acceleration of repayment.

If the Court rules in favor of the lenders, it could cause Byju’s to have to immediately pay back $40 million which would adversely affect its cash flows. At the same time, Byju’s creditworthiness has taken a hit. Any further debt is likely to come with a much higher interest burden due to the ongoing recession and the loss of investor confidence in the company.

At the same time, efficient employees are also opting to leave Byju’s due to lower job safety. How Byju’s would come out of these troubled waters remains to be seen.

BYJU’S raises $250 million using structured instruments from Davidson Kempner

Sakshi Vats — Fri, 12 May 2023 19:01:48 +0000

As part of its ongoing $1 billion funding round, Indian edtech giant BYJU’S has received $250 million from US investment company Davidson Kempner Capital Management. The monetary the infusion brings relief to the Bengaluru-based company after an extended time of financial strain and regulatory difficulties.

People with insight into the situation claimed that the company is in advanced talks with a number of global investors, notably sovereign wealth funds situated in West Asia, to finalise the funding round.

Although the company has maintained its $22 billion value, the latest investment round is quite structured and is dependent on the public listing of its subsidiary Aakash Educational Services, according to sources.

The intentions for the Aakash IPO were confirmed in February by BYJU’S co-founder Divya Gokulnath. “We would like to list it in India and we are working on it. We have been planning it for a few months now,” she had stated.

In its most recent funding round, BYJU raised $250 million from its current investors, including Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), in October 2022. Since then, the company has been attempting to raise funds, especially to return a portion of the $1.2 billion it borrowed from an association of creditors in November 2021. According to sources, the firm has been negotiating the loan’s terms and requesting more time from its creditors.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently opened an investigation into the company for possible foreign exchange acts of violence. Three locations connected to BYJU’S had been inspected by the ED.

Byju Raveendran, the company’s founder and CEO, claimed in an internal email to his team that the focus was set on them as a result of the significant foreign funding they have received and the amount of international acquisitions they had done.

Raveendran informed his staff that the company had followed with all laws and that all transactions were being reviewed by experts.”BYJU’S has taken all efforts to fully comply with all applicable foreign exchange laws and all our cross- border transactions have been duly vetted by both its professional advisors/counsel and advisors/counsel of the investment funds and other sophisticated counterparties,” the note stated.

Byju’s acquires US-based coding platform ‘Tynker’

Sneha Sengupta — Thu, 16 Sep 2021 11:52:54 +0000

On September 16, Byju’s, India’s most trusted educational app by millions said that it will acquire Tynker, a coding space for kids, based in the US. As reported by Moneycontrol, this move is in line with the right other acquisition, this being the nine one for the ongoing fiscal year of 2021. This is initiated to amplify and conjoin its functions in the kindergarten to the 12th-grade sector, thereby listing its name even on the US public markets.

The company has spent a huge amount of $2 billion to undertake 9 companies throughout this year. It is now valued at a whopping $16.5 billion, automatically making its stance as the most valued startup unicorn in India.

Commenting on its power-packed performances in a row, Byju’s Chief Strategy Officer Anita Kishore, cleared the air by saying, “We don’t keep track of numbers and don’t work with a target number. Each of these acquisitions has been very specific. Tynker is a product that we have been looking at for a while and we first met them 2-3 years ago.”

Tynker, the coding form was established in 2012 by Krishna Vedati & Srinivas Mandyam in Mountain View, California, United States. It is a popularly used application specially designed for children aged between 5-18, to help them learn the intricate art of coding. Tynker’s co-owner Srinivas Mandyam averred that “1 in 3 schools in the US already use Tynker, giving Byju’s a huge foothold in North America and it hopes its India reach will go up after it recently released an Android version.”

Tynker brings its users an insight in the form of video tutorials that will help them learn text coding and block coding. It offers 60 courses in Creative Coding, Minecraft Modding, Minecraft Game Design, Python and CSS.

Earlier, in an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol, Byju’s owner Byju Raveendran said: “I strongly believe that we have an opportunity to redefine this space globally. This is not a cut, copy, paste model of what is working in other markets, Starting in India is an advantage in this space.”

Byju’s plans to raise between $400 million to $600 million, for an initial public offering

News Desk — Thu, 09 Sep 2021 07:53:12 +0000

Byju’s an Indian multinational educational technology company, in India is going to raise between $400 million to $600 million and then next year give a boost to plans for an initial public offering, according to the people familiar with the matter. In few weeks the online education provider Byju’s could close the pre-IPO fundraising at a valuation of about $21 billion, said one of the people asking to be anonymous. The fundraising is likely to be break evenly between equity and debt.

As early as the second quarter of 2022, the former teacher Byju Raveendran is focusing to file its initial IPO documents, two anonymous people said. It had looked earlier at a timeline of 12 to 24 months. A valuation of $40 billion to $50 billion has been discussed by the startup and its bankers, although the final confirmation will depend on financial results and investor demand, said the people.

“The same banks are involved in the current fundraising,” said one of the people among the banks in the talks are Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc., and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Byju’s, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Citi refused to comment. With IPO fundraisings on track to reach record levels India’s technology sector has marked an increase this year.

An April Bloomberg News report said, after uplifting about $150 million from UBS Group AG, Byju’s was being valued at $16.5 billion. which marked it just ahead of the second-most valuable startup in India. Meanwhile, an initial document has been filled by Paytm for what could be India’s largest IPO to date at $2.2 billion.

“The startup is targeting ₹ 100 billion ($1.4 billion) in revenue in the year ending March 2022, with a 20 percent margin. Byju’s has been on an acquisition binge in the past year, acquiring startups offering coding lessons, professional learning courses, and test prep classes for competitive Indian exams,” said founder Mr. Raveendran to Bloomberg News.

In the last year as the pandemic came ahead in India 45 million students were added by the company to its platform, and in July it was marked to be more than 100 million users on the Byju’s app. The annual renewal rate is 86 percent as 6.5 million are paid, subscribers.

Byju’s acquires Gradeup to reinforce online competitive exams preparation

Sneha Sengupta — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 16:22:53 +0000

On September 7, Ed-tech company Byju’s said: it has acquired online exam preparation platform Gradeup in a bid to bolster the ed-tech’s presence in the fast-growing online competitive examination preparation category. The acquisition will also help BYJU’s harness Gradeup’s student reach.

Gradeup in conglomerate with Byju’s Exam Prep will facilitate an easy learning platform for students preparing for various competitive exams. The companies will impart quality online teaching for 150+ exams under 25 exam separate categories including Govt Jobs and PG Entrance Exams namely., IAS, GATE, CAT, Bank PO/Clerk, Defence, UGC-NET, etc.

Commenting on the acquisition, Byju Raveendran, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Byju’s, said, “Our focus has always been on ensuring that every learner has access to the highest quality of teachers and content to help them learn better. With Gradeup on board, we will be able to further scale and expand our test-prep offerings in postgraduate level exams. Gradeup has already proved its mettle and we are excited to join forces with the seasoned team. We aim to bring our complementary strengths and expertise together to create engaging and personalised learning experiences.”

Shobhit Bhatnagar, CEO at Gradeup, averred, “By combining live classes, assessments, and quality study material, we have built a highly specialised offering for students preparing for competitive exams. Together with BYJU’S, we will accelerate our growth and expand our reach across the country. Further, we will leverage their strengths in content to deepen our current product offering and broaden our coverage of exams.”

On August 25, Byju’s has planned to raise around $500 million in a debt round through loan B.

Karan Bajaj leaves WhiteHat Jr, Trupti Mukker to take over position

Aayushi Singh — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 09:32:26 +0000

The CEO and Founder, Karan Bajaj, of the online learning platform WhiteHat Jr, has moved on to start the next chapter of his life and the Head of Customer and Delivery, Trupti Mukker, would be the lead of the organisation.

Byju Raveendran, the Founder and CEO of the leading edtech firm Bjju’s had sent an internal email to its employees which said that Karan was ready to progress onto the next chapter of his life and that they had mutually decided at the time of acquisition.

Mr Raveendran said in the email that in the current week, they would have completed one year of joining of the WhiteHat Jr in the Byju’s family. He mentioned Trupti Mukker would lead the organisation which was skilfully supported by the strong leadership team that was set up by Karan and Byju. Mr Raveendran was the Head of Customer Experience and Delivery.
He was the Head of Customer Experience and Delivery.

In the previous year, Byju’s acquired WhiteHat Jr, a Mumbai based live online coding provider, in an all cash deal of worth $300 million.
In 2018, WhiteHat Jr was founded by Bajaj with a vision to make children creators of technology rather than being passive consumers of it.

The WhiteHat Jr has forayed into 1:1 online music classes, and also brought up physical digital blended coding curriculum to Indian Schools with an aim to teach over 10 lakh students till the next academic year, originally WhiteHat Jr was only a Math and Coding learning platform.

According to Raveendran, WhiteHat Jr and Byju’s Future School, under Bajaj’s leadership, would allow many students in the world daily to learn and create with more than 11,000 teachers.

Bajaj said that he would be fully present in the transition and intends to carve out a career in public interest as the next step.

Bajaj had said that three years ago, WhiteHat Jr was just an idea and now they were a team of more than 17,000 employees and teachers in countries around the world, like India, UK, Australia, US and Latin America, etc.

Bajaj had written three bestseller novels which were published by HarperCollins-India and Penguin Random House. His three novels were Keep off the Grass, Johnny Gone Down, and The Seeker, in India, these novels altogether sold over 200,000 copies.

Bajaj served as the CEO for Discovery South Asia, he was a graduate of IIM Banglore.
Bajaj in the past had been associated with companies like P&G, BCG and Kraft Foods Group.

Currently, more than 11,000-strong teacher workforce conducts thousands of Live Coding, Math and Music online classes every day on its platform.

Cumulatively, the company has conducted more than 8.5 million classes to date.