Byju Raveendran Explained

Byju Raveendran
Birth Place:Azhikode, Kannur, Kerala, India
Nationality:Indian
Occupation:Entrepreneur
Founder & CEO of Byju's
Spouse:Divya Gokulnath
Alma Mater:Government College of Engineering, Kannur
Education:Bachelor of Technology

Byju Raveendran (born 1980)[1] is an Indian entrepreneur, investor and educator who, with his wife Divya Gokulnath, co-founded Byju's.

Early life and education

Byju was born in 5th January 1980 in the Azhikode[1] [2] village of Kerala, India to Raveendran and Shobhanavalli, physics and mathematics teachers, respectively.[3] [4] He studied at a Malayalam medium school where his mother was a mathematics teacher and his father a physics teacher.[5] [6] He would skip classes and then learn at home.[7] [8]

Career

After completing his B.Tech from the Government College of Engineering, Kannur, he joined a multinational shipping company as a service engineer.[3] During a vacation in 2003, he helped his friends who were studying for the CAT exam. He then took the CAT exam and scored in the 100th percentile. When he took the exam again, he again scored in the 100th percentile.[9] Two years later, he continued helping people study for the CAT exam and, based on the good results, decided to quit his job.

In 2007, Byju founded the test preparation business Byju's Classes, and the company grew to stadium-size classes.[10] In 2011, he founded Byju's with his wife, Divya Gokulnath, whom he met while she was a student in his exam preparation class.[11] [12]

In 2015, as smartphone screen sizes increased, Byju's launched an app developed by Byju for students to learn on handheld devices.[13] [14] [15] In October 2018, the app expanded to the United Kingdom, the United States and other English-speaking countries.[16] By July 2022, the app had been downloaded more than 150 million times, and on average, its users spent 71 minutes on the app every day.[17]

In 2021, Byju was heading advanced talks to acquire Vedantu for around $600-$700 million, but the deal didn't get through due to pending regulatory approvals.[18]

According to Forbes, as of 2020, Byju, his wife Divya Gokulnath, and his brother Riju Raveendran have a combined net worth of $3.4 billion.[19] In January 2021, he was added to the National Startup Advisory Council as a non-official member.[20] In April 2021, Byju's purchased the Indian test-prep provider Aakash Educational Services Ltd. for nearly billion.[21] [22]

In July 2022, Byju invested $400 million in BYJU'S during a venture capital financing round.[23]

On 1 February 2024, multiple shareholders were reported to have signed a notice calling for 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 entity Enforcement Directorate issued a look out notice against Raveendran.[25] On 23 February, shareholders voted to remove Byju as CEO, and he stated afterwards that the vote was invalid due to a lack of a quorum.[26] A previous court ruling placed the implementation of the shareholder vote on hold until after further review on 13 March 2024.[26] [27]

Personal life

Byju married Divya Gokulnath, one of his early students, in 2009. Together they have two sons.[28]

Awards and recognition

YearTitle
2017The Indian Express IT Awards[29]
2019Manorama News Newsmaker award[30]
2020Ernst & Young Finalist, Entrepreneur of the Year, India and Winner, Business Transformation Award[31] [32]
2020Fortune Magazine's '40 Under 40' list[33]
2021Forbes India Leadership Award (FILA) Entrepreneur for the Year[34]

Notes and References

  1. News: Byju Raveendran . 29 October 2022 . . 15 February 2021.
  2. Web site: Byju's education app: A CAT topper who didn't fancy IIMs is making self-learning cool among Indian students — Quartz India. qz.com. en. 2018-11-10.
  3. News: ബൈജൂസ് ആപ്പിന്റെ കഥ; ബൈജു രവീന്ദ്രന്റെയും . Mathrubhumi . en.
  4. News: WHO IS BYJU RAVEENDRAN . Business Standard India . 2022-07-28.
  5. News: Gilchrist . Karen . India crowns its newest billionaire, a 37-year-old former teacher . 26 March 2021 . CNBC . 30 July 2019.
  6. News: Krishna . Niharika . Teacher, entrepreneur: The success story of Byju Raveendran . 26 March 2021 . Hindustan Times . 11 July 2016.
  7. News: Rai . Saritha . Byju Raveendran, a former school teacher, joins Indian billionaires' club . 26 March 2021 . LiveMint . Bloomberg . 29 July 2019.
  8. News: India TV News Desk . Reluctant student-turned teacher, meet Byju Raveendran - India's newest billionaire . 26 March 2021 . India TV . 30 July 2019.
  9. News: TNM Staff . Kerala-born former teacher Byju Raveendran is India’s newest billionaire . 3 May 2021 . The News Minute . 29 July 2019.
  10. News: Banerjee . Sreya . Teacher turned app maker Byju Raveendran is India's newest billionaire . 3 May 2021 . ABC News . 31 July 2019.
  11. News: Ghosh . Debojyoti . Byju’s better half . 26 March 2021 . Fortune India . 21 November 2020.
  12. News: ET Now Digital . With a wealth of over Rs 11,300 crore, meet India's youngest billionaire . 26 March 2021 . TimesNowNews . 10 October 2020.
  13. News: FP Staff . Byju's founder, Raveendran polevaults into billionaire club with latest funding of $150 mn . 27 March 2021 . FirstPost . 29 July 2019.
  14. News: Rai . Saritha . Byju Raveendran, the A Student in Online Ed . 26 March 2021 . Bloomberg BusinessWeek . 3 December 2020.
  15. News: Shah . Vrutika . 5 youngest billionaires of India and how they make their money . 26 March 2021 . GQ India . 12 February 2020.
  16. News: India's Game-Changers - Byju Raveendran . 26 March 2021 . BBC World News . 6 October 2018.
  17. News: Byju’s said to be in talks with lenders for $1 billion funding . The Economic Times . 2022-08-06.
  18. News: Byju's to acquire e-learning platform Vedantu for $600-$700 mn . 2022-12-22 . The Times of India. IANS. 6 August 2021.
  19. Web site: Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath . 2022-08-06 . Forbes . en.
  20. Web site: 2021-01-19. Byju Raveendran, Kunal Bahl named to startup advisory panel. 2021-01-19. The Siasat Daily. en-GB.
  21. News: Singh . Manish . Byju’s acquires Indian tutor Aakash for nearly $1 billion . 8 October 2021 . Techcrunch . 5 April 2021.
  22. News: Bhalla . Tarush . Aakash joins Byju’s universe in a deal worth nearly $1 billion . 8 October 2021 . . 5 April 2021.
  23. News: 2022-07-11 . Byju’s Struggles to Close $800 Million Funding as Investors Balk . en . Bloomberg.com . 2022-07-28.
  24. Web site: Shah . Ranjani Raghavan,Sneha . 2024-02-01 . Shareholders ask Byju Raveendran to step down . 2024-02-01 . mint . en.
  25. News: Bureau . The Hindu . 2024-02-22 . ED issues fresh look-out notice against Byju Raveendran . 2024-02-23 . The Hindu . en-IN . 0971-751X.
  26. News: Pandya . Dhwani . Sriram . M. . Indian startup Byju's calls shareholder move to oust CEO invalid . 24 February 2024 . 23 February 2024.
  27. News: India court says Byju's shareholder decisions will not apply before March 13 . 24 February 2024 . . February 21, 2024.
  28. Web site: Byju’s better half . 2022-08-06 . www.fortuneindia.com . en.
  29. Web site: Express IT Awards: Byju Raveendran, a teacher who is the pupils’ pet. 2022-02-10. The Financial Express. en.
  30. News: Staff . Byju Raveendran dedicates Manorama News Newsmaker Award to COVID warriors, teachers . 26 March 2021 . Onmanorama . 7 December 2020.
  31. News: Byju Raveendran . 6 April 2021 . EY . 2 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210502150251/https://www.ey.com/en_in/entrepreneur-of-the-year/finalists-2020/byju-raveendran . dead .
  32. News: Dave . Sachin . Harsh Mariwala wins EY Entrepreneur of the year 2020 award . 14 April 2021 . Economic Times . 25 March 2021.
  33. Web site: Byju Raveendran 2020 40 under 40 in Tech. 2020-09-13. Fortune. en.
  34. News: Bathija . Monica . FILA 2021 Entrepreneur for the Year: Byju Raveendran's global ambitions . 26 March 2021 . Forbes India . 18 March 2021.

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