Byju founder Ravindran, facing a financial crisis, has said that colleagues left him during difficult times, which worsened the company’s situation.
Ravindran said this in a virtual media briefing. During this, he talked about many issues including the worst phase of his company, his net worth being zero, a dispute with BCCI, fundraising, leaving India and living in Dubai.
BYJU Founder – the company was not a fraud, if it were, I would not have invested all my money
Ravindran said that his company is not a fraud. He said that we had not made any mistake intentionally. We have not committed any fraud. If it was a fraud, the founders would have withdrawn the money, they would not have invested all their money in the company. He said ‘I do not want to give a deadline but I will return’.
Read the main parts of Ravindran’s media interaction
- In May 2023, three big investors of the company – Prosus, Peak XV Partners and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative – resigned from the board at the same time. This decision was the biggest setback for the company.
- The company had projected rapid growth in the next two to three years and under pressure from investors, the company adopted the path of aggressive growth, which proved to be a big mistake. Due to this, the net worth has become zero today.
- Ravindran said that we started investing in many markets simultaneously. All our acquisition and growth decisions were approved by the board members with a vote of 6-0.
- Many investors in the company made a lot of money. Peak XV earned about eight times by investing $ 50 million in a very short time. We gave investors a return of more than $ 2 billion. No one talks about returns.
- If we had investors who have invested in big companies, it would have proved very helpful for us. It would have been better if we had people like Mohandas Pai earlier because he has seen scaling in India as well.
- Byju said, that in good times, investors wanted to increase the business to $100 billion. Financial returns seemed more important to them. They did not worry about the students at all. I got the most support for WhiteHat Jr. But there was resistance for Aakash.
- He said that he has more than a 26% stake in Think and Learn, the parent company of Byju’s. He said that after the infusion of funds, it has also increased. However, he said that I do not want to reveal the data.
- Ravindra said that whatever order comes from NCLAT, I will find a way. There is no problem in the world that cannot be solved. I do not want to give a deadline but I will return.
- I am not running away anywhere. If we had to run away, we would have done it long ago. Sadly, people think that I have run away from India. I came here four years ago for my father’s health reasons.
BYJU Founder Ravindran started his career as a mathematics teacher
Byju Ravindran started his career as a mathematics teacher. When he founded Byju’s in 2011, it became the fastest-growing startup. The company had stated its valuation to be $22 billion (around Rs 1.84 lakh crore) in 2022. Byju provides coaching to students from the primary level to the MBA.
