Once an Edtech giant, Byju’s is experiencing a financial crisis due to mounting debts and legal disputes. The founder, Byju Raveendran, recently defended the company’s high-profile endorsements featuring superstar actor Shah Rukh Khan and football star Lionel Messi, saying the campaigns were aligned with its core mission.
“Shah Rukh Khan was creating awareness for our new segment. Look at all the commercials we have created with Shah Rukh Khan and Messi—it was talking about love for learning,” Raveendran told ANI. “Messi was talking about education for all, which is our largest not-for-profit initiative in terms of the scale it reached.”
About Byju's
Launched in 2015, Byju’s was once India’s most valued edtech startup, catering to students from kindergarten to class 12. It achieved unicorn status by 2019 and hit its peak just before the global downturn.
The company fell from its peak valuation of $22 billion in 2022, weighed down by mounting debt, regulatory scrutiny, and failed global expansion plans.
The firm’s financial issues began after it failed to repay a $1.2 billion Term Loan B. A group of lenders, represented by Glas Trust, approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in India to recover Rs 11,432 crore.
In June 2024, the NCLT ruled in favour of the lenders, giving them control over Byju’s financial decisions.
Raveendran and his team contested the decision, disclosing that the lenders had not considered a separate Rs 158 crore dispute with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
A few months back, Byju Raveendran even claimed to be framed for fraud.
Reflecting on the startup’s struggles, Raveendran admitted making “some business mistakes,” particularly while expanding into 21 countries during the pandemic.
“Maybe we could have taken it a little bit slowly. We were growing a little too soon, too fast. We went from India to 21 new countries. But if you ask me, in that context of 2019 to 2021, the COVID era, we have 160 investors, world-class investors, and equity investors. All of them - this was the mandate: grow, grow, grow and change the way kids learn," said Raveendran.
A key misstep, Raveendran disclosed, was opting for a $1.2 billion term loan in 2021. “We had other options. We raised $5 billion before that. We were not doing it out of desperation. It was a collective decision,” the entrepreneur said.
Byju’s continues to face huge challenges even though its founder clarified that the company’s intentions behind earlier decisions, including celebrity endorsements, were mission-driven.
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