Byju Raveendran | |
|---|---|
 Byju Raveendran in 2017 | |
| Born | 5 January 1980 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education | B-Tech |
| Alma mater | Government College of Engineering, Kannur |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Title | Founder & CEO of Byju's |
| Spouse | Divya Gokulnath |
Byju Raveendran (born 5 January 1980) [1] is an Indian entrepreneur, investor and educator who, with his wife Divya Gokulnath, co-founded Byju's.
Byju was born in 5th January 1980 in the Azhikode [1] [2] village of Kerala, India to Raveendran and Shobhanavalli, physics and mathematics teachers, respectively. [3] [4] He studied at a Malayalam medium school where his mother was a mathematics teacher and his father a physics teacher. [5] [6] He would skip classes and then learn at home. [7] [8]
After completing his B.Tech from the Government College of Engineering, Kannur, he joined a multinational shipping company as a service engineer. [3] During a vacation in 2003, he helped his friends who were studying for the CAT exam. [6] He then took the CAT exam and scored in the 100th percentile. [6] When he took the exam again, he again scored in the 100th percentile. [9] Two years later, he continued helping people study for the CAT exam and, based on the good results, decided to quit his job. [6]
In 2007, Byju founded the test preparation business Byju's Classes, [6] and the company grew to stadium-size classes. [10] In 2011, he founded Byju's with his wife, Divya Gokulnath, [5] whom he met while she was a student in his exam preparation class. [11] [12]
In 2015, as smartphone screen sizes increased, Byju's launched an app developed by Byju for students to learn on handheld devices. [13] [6] [14] [15] In October 2018, the app expanded to the United Kingdom, the United States and other English-speaking countries. [16] By July 2022, the app had been downloaded more than 150 million times, and on average, its users spent 71 minutes on the app every day. [17]
In 2021, Byju was heading advanced talks to acquire Vedantu for around $600-$700 million, but the deal didn't get through due to pending regulatory approvals. [18]
According to Forbes , as of 2020, Byju, his wife Divya Gokulnath, and his brother Riju Raveendran have a combined net worth of $3.4 billion. [19] In January 2021, he was added to the National Startup Advisory Council as a non-official member. [20] In April 2021, Byju's purchased the Indian test-prep provider Aakash Educational Services Ltd. for nearly US$ 1 billion. [21] [22]
In July 2022, Byju invested $400 million in BYJU'S during a venture capital financing round. [23]
On 1 February 2024, multiple shareholders were reported to have signed a notice calling for a general meeting to address various issues at BYJU'S, including requests to change the company's board of directors and leadership. [24] In February 2024, India's economic intelligence and law enforcement entity Enforcement Directorate issued a look out notice against Raveendran. [25] On 23 February, shareholders voted to remove Byju as CEO, and he stated afterwards that the vote was invalid due to a lack of a quorum. [26] A previous court ruling placed the implementation of the shareholder vote on hold until after further review on 13 March 2024. [26] [27]
Byju Raveendran’s once-thriving ed-tech empire has faced a series of significant challenges that have threatened its future. Financial struggles, including a sharp decline in valuation to below $1 billion, investor backlash, and mounting regulatory issues, have put the company in a precarious position. Legal scrutiny, particularly around its financial practices, further compounded the situation. Internally, Byju’s was rocked by high-profile resignations, layoffs, and a noticeable decline in employee morale, signaling deeper issues with leadership and company culture. These setbacks, alongside growing internal discord and a loss of investor confidence, have raised doubts about the company’s ability to recover and regain its former dominance in the ed-tech space.
Byju married Divya Gokulnath, one of his early students, in 2009. Together they have two sons. [28]
| Year | Title | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | The Indian Express IT Awards | [29] |
| 2019 | Manorama News Newsmaker award | [30] |
| 2020 | Ernst & Young Finalist, Entrepreneur of the Year, India and Winner, Business Transformation Award | [31] [32] |
| 2020 | Fortune Magazine's '40 Under 40' list | [33] |
| 2021 | Forbes India Leadership Award (FILA) Entrepreneur for the Year | [34] |
Marc Lowell Andreessen is an American businessman and former software engineer. He is the co-author of Mosaic, the first widely used web browser with a graphical user interface; co-founder of Netscape; and co-founder and general partner of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He co-founded and later sold the software company Opsware to Hewlett-Packard; he also co-founded Ning, a company that provides a platform for social networking websites. He is an inductee in the World Wide Web Hall of Fame. Andreessen's net worth is estimated at $1.7 billion.
Lakshmi Niwas Mittal is an Indian steel magnate, based in the United Kingdom. He is the executive chairman of ArcelorMittal, the world's second largest steelmaking company, as well as chairman of stainless steel manufacturer Aperam. Mittal owns 38% of ArcelorMittal and holds a 3% stake in EFL Championship side Queens Park Rangers.
Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault is a French businessman, investor and art collector. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods company. Arnault is one of the richest individuals in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$199.7 billion as of September 2024, according to Forbes and US$208 billion according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani is an Indian billionaire businessman who is the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries. He is the richest person in Asia and 9th richest in the world.
Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry was an Indian-born Irish billionaire businessman. He was chairman of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group and a major shareholder of India's largest private conglomerate, Tata Group.
William Albert Ackman is an American billionaire hedge fund manager who is the founder and chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund management company. His investment approach has made him an activist investor. As of June 2024, Ackman's net worth was estimated at $9.3 billion by Forbes.
Rakesh Radheyshyam Jhunjhunwala was an Indian billionaire investor, stock trader, and Chartered Accountant. He began investing in 1985 with a capital of ₹5,000, with his first major profit in 1986. At the time of his death, he had an estimated net worth of US$5.8 billion, making him the 438th richest person in the world. He was a partner in his own asset management firm, Rare Enterprises.
Lightspeed Venture Partners is a global venture capital firm focusing on seed stage, early stage investments and growth stage investments in the enterprise, fintech, consumer and healthcare sectors. Lightspeed has eleven offices globally and as of 2023 had approximately US$25 billion in assets under management.
Flipkart Private Limited is an Indian e-commerce company, headquartered in Bangalore, and incorporated in Singapore as a private limited company. The company initially focused on online book sales before expanding into other product categories such as consumer electronics, fashion, home essentials, groceries, and lifestyle products.
Naspers Limited is a South African multinational internet, technology and multimedia holding company headquartered in Cape Town, with interests in online retail, publishing and venture capital investment. Naspers' principal shareholder is its Dutch listed investment subsidiary Prosus, which owns approximately 49% of its parent as part of a cross ownership structure.
Vedantu is an Indian multinational online tutoring platform launched in 2014 based in Bengaluru, India. It primarily provides services to students in grades 4 to 12.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an Indian technology entrepreneur, multimillionaire and business magnate. He is the founder and chief executive officer of One97 Communications founded in 1997 and its consumer brand Paytm which he started in 2010.
Lawrence Sheldon Strulović, known as Lawrence Stroll, is a Canadian businessman, part-owner and executive chairman of Aston Martin, and the owner of the Aston Martin F1 Team. According to Forbes, he has a net worth of US$3.9 billion, as of March 2024.
Radhakishan Shivkishan Damani is an Indian billionaire businessman and investor. He is the founder and chairman of retail chain DMart. Damani is referred to as the "retail king" of India.
Byju's is an Indian multinational educational technology company, headquartered in Bengaluru. It was founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath. As of October 2024, various media outlets reported that Byju's valuation has now plummeted to zero, down from its peak valuation of $22 billion in 2022. In April 2023, the company claimed it had over 150 million registered students.
Doubtnut is an Indian educational app started by Tanushree Nagori and Aditya Shankar. Doubtnut is available as an Android application on Play Store or by accessing its official website.
Jio Platforms Limited is an Indian multinational technology company, headquartered in Mumbai, India. It is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Established in 2019, it acts as a holding company for India's largest mobile network operator, Jio, and other digital businesses of Reliance. Since April 2020, Reliance Industries has raised ₹152,056 crore (US$18 billion) by selling a 32.97% equity stake in the company. In August 2021, it was ranked 155th on the 2021 Fortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest corporations.
Divya Gokulnath is an Indian entrepreneur and educator who is the co-founder and director of Byju's, an educational technology company founded in 2011 in Bangalore, India.
Unacademy is an Indian multinational educational technology company that provides online educational platform with its headquarters in Bangalore. It prepares students for various competitive exams, as well as provides content on foundational (K-12) and skill building courses. It was founded by Gaurav Munjal, Hemesh Singh and Roman Saini in 2015. As of May 2022, Unacademy was valued at US$3.44 billion.
Physics Wallah Private Limited is an Indian multinational educational technology company headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The company was founded by Alakh Pandey in 2016 as a YouTube channel aimed at teaching the physics curriculum for the Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE). In 2020, Pandey, along with his cofounder Prateek Maheshwari created the Physics Wallah app, which allowed students to access courses related to the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Joint Entrance Exam (JEE). As of September 2024, the company is valued at around $2.8 billion.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)