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Journalism of Courage
Byju Raveendran, the Indian mathematics teacher who founded and led Byju’s, an ed-tech platform, recently said that his startup, once valued at $22 billion, now has “zero” net worth. He said, “It’s worth zero. What valuation are you talking about? It’s worth zero.”
According to TechCrunch, in a statement made to a group of journalists, Raveendran said that the company’s rapid expansion and acquisition of more than 24 startups led to a financial crisis in 2022, the same year the company was planning to go public.
He claimed that these investors had suggested expanding aggressively into 40 more markets, but backed out after the global market suffered a setback post Russia started its offensive campaign against Ukraine.
In his statement, Raveendran said his three main backers––Prosus Ventures, Peak XV and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative––”ran away” from the company’s board last year, making it impossible for them to raise more funds.
In the last few months, the company has suffered numerous setbacks including job cuts and a decrease in valuation, with investors accusing Raveendran, the company’s former CEO, of corporate governance lapses.
An Indian tribunal also started insolvency proceedings after the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) filed a complaint against Byju, claiming that the ed-tech startup did not complete payment of $19 million for a sponsorship deal. Since then, Byju’s assets have been frozen and Raveendran was suspended.
However, Raveendran went on to say that he hopes that Byju’s will make a comeback someday. In an interview last year at the World Economic Forum, which took place in Davos, Raveendran said that he accepted multiple times that he made his “fair share of mistakes”
