Divya Gokulnath | |
|---|---|
 Divya Gokulnath | |
| Born | 1987 (age 36–37) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | R.V. College of Engineering |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Title | Director and co-founder of Byju's |
| Spouse | Byju Raveendran |
| Children | 2 |
Divya Gokulnath (born 1987) 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. [1] [2]
Divya was born and raised in Bengaluru. [3] Her father worked as a nephrologist at Apollo Hospitals, while her mother was a programming executive with Doordarshan an Indian Government broadcasting company. [3] [4] Divya is the only child of her parents. [5] During her childhood, Divya's father taught her science. [6]
Divya, a graduate of Frank Anthony Public School, went on to receive a Bachelor of Technology in Biotechnology from RV College of Engineering. [3] [7]
After her graduation in 2007, she met Byju Raveendran, [8] her instructor for GRE preparation. [3] [9] Byju encouraged her to become a teacher due to her questions during breaks between the classes. [3]
Her career as a teacher began in 2008 [3] at age 21. [10] [7] In 2020, she told Fortune India , "It was an auditorium-style class with 100 students. They were just a couple of years younger than me so to look mature I wore a saree to the class." [3] During her teaching career, she taught mathematics, English, and logical reasoning. [3]
In 2011, Divya and her husband co-founded Byju's, an online education platform initially providing in-person education to support school learning, followed by an online app that features video lessons. [11] [12] [13] With her expertise, Divya has served as a teacher in some educational videos. [14]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Divya took charge of user experience, content, and brand marketing to ensure uninterrupted learning for students. [3] As a result of these efforts, Byju's educational content was made available for free to students during the pandemic, leading to the addition of 13.5 million new users, bringing the total to 50 million by April 2020 and a total of 70 million students by September 2020, eventually garnering 4.5 million subscribers. [15] [16] [17]
According to Forbes , as of 2020, Divya, her husband Byju Raveendran and his brother Riju Raveendran, have a combined net worth of $3.05 billion. [12]
Divya also writes online, including about the future of education, parenting, and women's participation in STEM fields [18] [19] and has been an advocate for mitigating the gender pay gap in India. [20] She has also spoken with Mint Startup Diaries about challenges for women entrepreneurs, [21] and co-written an opinion article with Byju Raveendran in Vogue India about educational technology in India. [22]
In March 2022, Divya Gokulnath was appointed as the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry's's EdTech Taskforce Chair. [23]
In February 2024, the Karnataka High Court stopped an attempt by some Byju's shareholders to remove leadership roles from Byju Raveendran, Divya Gokulnath, and Riju Raveendran, pending further court proceedings on 13 March. [24] [25]
| Year | Title | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | LinkedIn Top Voices: India | [26] |
| 2020 | [18] | |
| 2020 | Business Today Most Powerful Women in Indian Business | [27] |
| 2020 | Femina Power List | [19] [28] |
| 2020 | Forbes Asia's Power Businesswomen | [29] |
| 2020 | Fortune India Most Powerful Women | [1] |
| 2021 | Fortune 50 Most Powerful Women In Business | [30] |
| 2021 | Kotak Private Banking's Hurun Leading Wealthy Women List for 2021 | [31] [32] |
| 2022 | Fortune India 40 under 40 | [33] |
| 2022 | The Indian Express' ExpressAWE | [34] |
Divya is married to Byju Raveendran. [35] As of April 2020, Divya lived with eleven other family members, including their young son [36] and then their second child was born near the beginning of 2021. [37] Before the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked long days at the office, but during the lockdown, began working from home. [3] [36] [38]
In 2021, she told The Indian Express her typical day includes "juggling son's online classes, meetings, recording video lessons and spending time with a newborn." [37]
Akhila Srinivasan is the Managing Director of the Shriram Group Shriram Life Insurance Company. She is also the founder of the Shriram Foundation, a philanthropic organization with a focus on education, micro-credit, and anti-poverty initiatives, and the founder and Managing Trustee of GiveLife, a related NGO focused on humanitarian projects.
Indra Nooyi is an Indian-born American business executive who was the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of PepsiCo from 2006 to 2018.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in India. Dr. Anish Shah, Group CEO and Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra, is the current President of FICCI.
National College, Bangalore is the name given to two sister institutions in Bangalore, India: the National College Basavanagudi, founded in 1919, and the National College, Jayanagar, founded in 1965. Other related institutions, also called National College, are located in Bagepalli and Gowribidanur. These institutions are managed by the National Education Society of Karnataka (NES).
Devita Saraf is an Indian business woman, born in Mumbai, India. She is the founder, chairman and CEO of Vu Televisions.
Trishneet Arora is the founder and chief executive officer of TAC Security, a cyber security company. He was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 2018 Asia list and Fortune India 40 Under 40 2019 List of India's Brightest Business Minds.
Priyanka Gill is an Indian entrepreneur and angel investor currently based in London, UK. She is the founder and CEO of POPxo, a digital community platform for millennial women launched in 2014 and merged with MyGlamm in 2020. She currently serves as the co-founder of the Good Glamm Group and CEO of the Good Media Co. In 2019 Gill was named onto Businessworld 40 Under 40 List.
Vani Kola is an Indian venture capitalist. She is the founder and managing director of Kalaari Capital, an Indian early stage venture capital firm. She was listed as one of the most powerful women in Indian business by Fortune India in 2014.
Ameera Shah (born 24 September 1979) is an Indian entrepreneur and the managing director of Metropolis Healthcare, a multinational chain of pathology centers based in Mumbai, with presence in seven countries. She is the daughter of Dr Sushil Shah, the founder and chairman of Metropolis Healthcare. She has been honored as a 2015 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Divya Jain is an Indian software engineer and entrepreneur. Jain has been called a "data doyenne" by Fortune. She is currently a Director of ML at Google. Previously she was the Director of ML at Adobe and prior to that a Data Analysis Engineer at Box Data.
Nita Ambani is an Indian philanthropist and businesswoman. She is the chairperson and founder of the Reliance Foundation, Dhirubhai Ambani International School and a director of Reliance Industries. She is married to Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani. With a family fortune estimated in excess of US$117.8 billion, the Ambanis are among the richest in the world. She is also an art collector and the owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Mumbai Indians.
Kirthi Jayakumar is a peace educator, a women, peace, and security and feminist foreign policy practitioner, lawyer and writer. She is a Commonwealth Scholar, a Vital Voices (VV) Lead Fellow, a VV Engage Fellow, a Local Pathways Fellow, and a World Pulse Impact Leader. Kirthi is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She served as an advisor to the G7 through the Women7 under the German Presidency of the G7 in 2022, the Japanese Presidency of the G7 in 2023, and currently under the Italian Presidency of the G7, and was named as one of UN Women Asia Pacific's 30 for 2030.
Sminu Jindal is an Indian industrialist. She is the managing director of Jindal SAW Limited and Founder-Chairperson of Svayam, an initiative of the Sminu Jindal Trust & India's leading accessibility rights organization. She married Mr. Indresh Batra in 2001, and they have two sons, Anav Batra and Arjan Batra. She belongs to the US$22 billion O.P. Jindal Group.
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 January 2024, Byju's made a valuation ask of $200 million, a sharp fall given its peak valuation of $22 billion in 2022. As of April 2023, the company claims to have over 150 million registered students.
P. Shyama Raju is an Indian entrepreneur, philanthropist and an educationist based in Bengaluru, Karnataka. He is the chairman and managing director of DivyaSree, he is also the chairman of Rukmini Educational Charitable Trust and the chancellor of REVA University, Bengaluru. He holds prominent positions and memberships in reputed institutions across India. He is also on the board of many companies in the field of infrastructure development, charitable institutions and welfare trusts. In 2017, the Chief Minister of Karnataka Shri Siddaramaiah awarded him the Karnataka Rajyotsava award. He is currently appointed as the Chairman of the India ASEAN Trade Council 2022.
Byju Raveendran is an Indian entrepreneur, investor and educator who, with his wife Divya Gokulnath, co-founded Byju's.
Neha Kirpal is an Indian social entrepreneur based in India. She is known for her work at the intersection of arts and mental health. She founded the India Art Fair in 2008, which she later sold to MCH Group. She is the co-founder of Amaha, a mental health organization.
Shradha Sharma is an Indian journalist and entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of YourStory, a website.
Vineeta Singh is an Indian entrepreneur and CEO and co-founder of Sugar Cosmetics. She has been a Shark on the business reality TV show Shark Tank India since the show started airing on SonyLIV in 2021.
Jyoti Deshpande is an Indian businesswoman and film producer who is currently the CEO of Viacom 18. She was formerly the Group CEO and Managing Director of Eros International. Jyoti is the Co-Chair of the Media & Entertainment Committee, FICCI.
