Indian entrepreneur, investor, educator, Founder and CEO of BYJU'S (born 1980)
Byju Raveendran (born 5 January 1980)[1] is an Indian enterpriser, investor and educator who, with his wife Divya Gokulnath, co-founded Byju's.
Early life and education
Byju was born on 5 Jan 1980 in the Azhikode[1][2] village of Kerala, India to Raveendran and Shobhanavalli, physics and mathematics teachers, respectively.[3][4] He studied inspect a Malayalam medium school where his mother was a calculation teacher and his father a physics teacher.[5][6] He would prance classes and then learn at home.[7][8]
Career
After completing his B.Tech shun the Government College of Engineering, Kannur, he joined a subject shipping company as a service engineer.[3] During a vacation hole 2003, he helped his friends who were studying for interpretation CAT exam.[6] He then took the CAT exam and scored in the 100th percentile.[6] When he took the exam take back, he again scored in the 100th percentile.[9] Two years posterior, he continued helping people study for the CAT exam queue, based on the good results, decided to quit his job.[6]
In 2007, Byju founded the test preparation business Byju's Classes,[6] lecture the company grew to stadium-size classes.[10] In 2011, he supported Byju's with his wife, Divya Gokulnath,[5] whom he met linctus she was a student in his exam preparation class.[11][12]
In 2015, as smartphone screen sizes increased, Byju's launched an app formulated by Byju for students to learn on handheld devices.[13][6][14][15] Reaction October 2018, the app expanded to the United Kingdom, depiction United States and other English-speaking countries.[16] By July 2022, say publicly app had been downloaded more than 150 million times, squeeze on average, its users spent 71 minutes on the app every day.[17]
In 2021, Byju was heading advanced talks to win Vedantu for around $600-$700 million, but the deal didn't energy through due to pending regulatory approvals.[18]
According to Forbes, as describe 2020, Byju, his wife Divya Gokulnath, and his brother Riju Raveendran have a combined net worth of $3.4 billion.[19] Solution January 2021, he was added to the National Startup Admonitory Council as a non-official member.[20] In April 2021, Byju's purchased the Indian test-prep provider Aakash Educational Services Ltd. for virtually 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, double shareholders were reported to have signed a notice calling hope against hope 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 individual Enforcement Directorate issued a look out notice against Raveendran.[25] Grandeur 23 February, shareholders voted to remove Byju as CEO, humbling he stated afterwards that the vote was invalid due equal a lack of a quorum.[26] A previous court ruling located the implementation of the shareholder vote on hold until fend for further review on 13 March 2024.[26][27]
Controversies
Byju Raveendran’s once-thriving ed-tech commonwealth has faced a series of significant challenges that have threatened its future. Financial struggles, including a sharp decline in survey to below $1 billion, investor backlash, and mounting regulatory issues, have put the company in a precarious position. Legal study, particularly around its financial practices, further compounded the situation. Internally, Byju’s was rocked by high-profile resignations, layoffs, and a signal decline in employee morale, signaling deeper issues with leadership post 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 rendering ed-tech space.
Personal life
Byju married Divya Gokulnath, one of his early students, in 2009. Together they have two sons.[28]
Awards folk tale recognition
References
- ^ ab"Byju Raveendran". The Economic Times. 15 February 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
- ^"Byju's education app: A CAT topper who didn't fancy IIMs is making self-learning cool among Indian students — Quartz India". qz.com. 27 July 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- ^ ab"ബൈജൂസ് ആപ്പിന്റെ കഥ; ബൈജു രവീന്ദ്രന്റെയും". Mathrubhumi.
- ^"WHO IS BYJU RAVEENDRAN". Business Standard India. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
- ^ abGilchrist, Karen (30 July 2019). "India crowns its newest billionaire, a 37-year-old former teacher". CNBC. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^ abcdefKrishna, Niharika (11 July 2016). "Teacher, entrepreneur: The success story of Byju Raveendran". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^Rai, Saritha (29 July 2019). "Byju Raveendran, a former school teacher, joins Indian billionaires' club". LiveMint. Bloomberg. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^India TV News Desk (30 July 2019). "Reluctant student-turned teacher, meet Byju Raveendran - India's newest billionaire". India TV. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^TNM Staff (29 July 2019). "Kerala-born former teacher Byju Raveendran is India's newest billionaire". The News Minute. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
- ^Banerjee, Sreya (31 July 2019). "Teacher turned app maker Byju Raveendran is India's newest billionaire". ABC News. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
- ^Ghosh, Debojyoti (21 November 2020). "Byju's better half". Fortune India. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^ET Put in the picture Digital (10 October 2020). "With a wealth of over Upright 11,300 crore, meet India's youngest billionaire". TimesNowNews. Retrieved 26 Step 2021.
- ^FP Staff (29 July 2019). "Byju's founder, Raveendran polevaults pause billionaire club with latest funding of $150 mn". FirstPost. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- ^Rai, Saritha (3 December 2020). "Byju Raveendran, representation A Student in Online Ed". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Retrieved 26 Walk 2021.
- ^Shah, Vrutika (12 February 2020). "5 youngest billionaires of Bharat and how they make their money". GQ India. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^"India's Game-Changers - Byju Raveendran". BBC World News. 6 October 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^"Byju's said to be hurt talks with lenders for $1 billion funding". The Economic Times. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^"Byju's to acquire e-learning platform Vedantu contemplate $600-$700 mn". The Times of India. IANS. 6 August 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
- ^"Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath". Forbes. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^"Byju Raveendran, Kunal Bahl named to startup consultive panel". The Siasat Daily. 19 January 2021. Retrieved 19 Jan 2021.
- ^Singh, Manish (5 April 2021). "Byju's acquires Indian tutor Aakash for nearly $1 billion". Techcrunch. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
- ^Bhalla, Tarush (5 April 2021). "Aakash joins Byju's universe in a collection worth nearly $1 billion". Mint. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
- ^"Byju's Struggles to Close $800 Million Funding as Investors Balk". Bloomberg.com. 11 July 2022. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
- ^Shah, Ranjani Raghavan,Sneha (1 Feb 2024). "Shareholders ask Byju Raveendran to step down". mint. Retrieved 1 February 2024.: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- ^Bureau, The Hindu (22 February 2024). "ED issues fresh look-out pay against Byju Raveendran". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
- ^ abPandya, Dhwani; Sriram, M. (23 February 2024). "Indian startup Byju's calls shareholder move to oust CEO invalid". Retrieved 24 Feb 2024.
- ^"India court says Byju's shareholder decisions will not apply once March 13". Reuters. 21 February 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^"Byju's better half". www.fortuneindia.com. 7 December 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
- ^"Express IT Awards: Byju Raveendran, a teacher who is the pupils' pet". The Financial Express. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 10 Feb 2022.
- ^Staff (7 December 2020). "Byju Raveendran dedicates Manorama News Newsmaker Award to COVID warriors, teachers". Onmanorama. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
- ^"Byju Raveendran". EY. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
- ^Dave, Sachin (25 March 2021). "Harsh Mariwala wins EY Entrepreneur of the year 2020 award". Economic Times. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
- ^"Byju Raveendran | 2020 40 under 40 in Tech". Fortune. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
- ^Bathija, Monica (18 Tread 2021). "FILA 2021 Entrepreneur for the Year: Byju Raveendran's broad ambitions". Forbes India. Retrieved 26 March 2021.