Byju Raveendran is an Indian entrepreneur. He is the founder of Byju learning app. Byju’s is the first startup in Asia to be funded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife’s Chan Zuckerberg Foundation.
Wiki/Biography
Byju Raveendran was born in 1980 in Azhikode, Kerala (44 years old; as of 2024). He received his primary education from a local school in Azhikode, Kerala. He pursued his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from a government engineering college in Kannur, Kerala.
Byju has been interested in sports since she was a child. Although his parents were both teachers, they always emphasized the importance of exercise and encouraged him to try different sports. During school and college, he often played football, cricket, table tennis and badminton.
Although Byju excelled in sports, he never wanted to pursue a career in sports. He decided to pursue his career in engineering or medicine. He thought that if he chose medicine, he would have no time to play games, so he chose to become an engineer.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′8″
Weight (approximately): 70kg
Eye color: brown
Hair color: black
family and wife
Byju Raveendran belongs to the Malayali family. His father Ravindran is a retired physics teacher. His mother Shobhanavalli is a retired mathematics teacher. He has a younger brother, Riju. He is married to Divya Gokulnath. He met Divya while teaching in a classroom. She was his student, they fell in love and got married. They have a son, Nish.
Byju Raveendran and his father Raveendran
Byju Raveendran with wife Divya Gokulnath and son Nish
Profession
When Byju finished college, he found a job as a service engineer with a multinational shipping company. Once, he stayed with friends while on vacation in Bangalore. His friends are preparing for the CAT exam. Byju is a bright student and his friends ask him to help and guide them. Because Byju is very good at math. Byju helped them and he also attempted the exam with them just for fun. Byju was surprised when he scored 100 points in the exam. He couldn’t believe the result, so he tried the test again to see if he had gotten such a good result by mistake, but he got 100 points again.
Friends who he helped prepare for the CAT exam also passed the exam with flying colors. They suggested that Byju should teach students who aspire to appear in competitive examinations. He agreed, and his entrepreneurial journey began. He began teaching on the patio of a friend’s house. Initially, he taught only MBA aspirants and he used to mentor them and impart tips and tricks to them, which helped them save time while attempting mathematical problems. Eventually, he quit his job and began teaching more classes. He used to teach students for free for a week and then, only if they liked his teaching style, he would start charging them.
As the number of students grew, he moved classes from friends’ patios to classrooms and eventually to the auditorium. His popularity grew day by day and at one time he was teaching around 20,000 students in different states including Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Pune. Due to the increasing number of students, he started recording his lectures in 2009 and made them available to students in 45 cities.
Byju Raveendran in a speech
In 2010, several students who had recently graduated from IIM met Byju and came up with the idea of taking his course into a new field. They decided to take Byju’s courses online and offer them to millions of students. They formed a company “Think & Learn”. Its purpose is to create educational content for students. Byju Raveendran said that the company’s philosophy is-
To score well in competitive examinations, students should have complete conceptual clarity which can only be imparted during one’s schooling”
They created a mobile application and a website in 2011 that will help everyone access the educational content provided by Byju. They named the app “BYJU’S” – the learning app. The app was very popular and parents and students quickly adapted to the app as it was a very new idea and concept. Byju’s has many free videos on every topic and if someone wants to watch all the videos on a particular topic they have to subscribe to it. In 2005, the Android and iOS mobile applications were downloaded more than 5.5 million times, and Lacs’ annual subscriptions exceeded 2.5 million.
In September 2016, Mark Zuckerberg and his Priscilla Chan organization, The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, funded Byju Raveendran’s company with $50 million. Dollar. Byju’s becomes the first startup in Asia to receive funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. In July 2019, “Byju’s-The Learning App” became the official sponsor of the Indian cricket team’s jersey.
Byju’s – Official jersey sponsor of the Indian cricket team
After Arjun Mohan resigned as CEO of Byju’s in April 2024, Byju Raveendran returned to the day-to-day business of the company.
dispute
NCPCR Summons
Byju Raveendran was summoned by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on December 17, 2022, following complaints from parents and children. The charges allege that BYJU’S tricked them into signing loan contracts for its educational projects.
Irregular loan repayment
In March 2023, U.S.-based BYJU’S-related lenders, led by investment management firm Redwood, accelerated term loan B (TLB) repayments. They allege certain non-monetary and technical contractual breaches that led them to take control of Byju’s Alpha (Byju’s holding company) and appoint their own management team. The lender claimed that Byju’s Alpha was formed solely to receive TLB funds. Byju’s and its subsidiaries and acquired companies are controlled by its parent company Think & Learn Pvt. The lenders have accused Byju’s Alpha of defaulting on loans and are seeking to replace Byju’s CEO Riju Raveendran, Byju Raveendran’s brother, with their representative Timothy R. Pohl, Bloomberg reported. As a result, the action triggered a legal dispute between the edtech group and its lenders in courts in Delaware and New York.
Raid on ED.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at Byju’s premises in Bengaluru on April 29, 2022; these searches were in response to complaints lodged against the company by various private individuals. According to ED, they found irregularities in the foreign direct investment (FDI) received by the company since 2011; according to ED, the company received Rs 28,000 crore in FDI, of which over Rs 9,700 crore was allegedly remitted. The agency also found that Byju’s remitted Rs 9,754 crore (approximately) to various foreign jurisdictions in the name of overseas direct investment during the same period. The ED also claimed that founder and CEO Raveendran Byju never appeared before the agency even after receiving multiple summons from the agency. Following the ED raid, a spokesperson for Byju’s called it a “routine” investigation and said:
We were fully transparent with the authorities and provided them with all the information they requested. We are confident in the integrity of our operations and are committed to upholding the highest standards of compliance and ethics. ”
In February 2024, the ED directed the Immigration Department to issue a Notice of Attention (LOC) against him.
Accused of hiding $500 million
On May 19, 2023, Byju’s Alpha’s lenders accused Byju’s US unit of defaulting on payments and had transferred $500 million from the company. Accordingly, a hearing was initiated in the Delaware Court of Chancery. The court issued an order prohibiting managers from making major changes within the organization and scheduled a trial to determine who would gain control of the company. On June 5, 2023, Byju’s filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court challenging the accelerated loan repayment. The company also announced it would withhold further payments to lenders until the dispute over the terms of the loan is resolved.
net worth
In April 2024, his net worth fell from Rs. 175.45 billion rupees ($2.1 billion) a year ago.
fact
- In 2017, “Byju’s The Learning App” was included by Harvard University as one of its cases.
- As of July 2019, Byju’s-The Learning App has been downloaded more than 11 million times on the Android Play Store and has 35 million registered users.
- In 2019, Byju Raveendran’s net worth grew to $6 billion.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education