From Rs.1880000000000 to Zero: The Rise and Fall of Byju Raveendran
From Rs.1880000000000 to Zero: The Rise and Fall of Byju Raveendran
Once a tuition teacher, now struggling to salvage a collapsed empire, how one decision brought India’s edtech poster boy to ruin
In 2022, edtech giant Byju’s was valued at a staggering $22 billion around ₹1.88 lakh crore. Today, its valuation has plummeted to zero. The dramatic collapse of the company that once dominated every screen, billboard, and cricket jersey is not just a business failure, it’s the story of Byju Raveendran, a man whose meteoric rise from a small-town tutor to billionaire entrepreneur ended in financial ruin.
Byju Raveendran was born in 1980 in Kerala, to a modest family of educators—his mother a maths teacher, his father a physics teacher. Gifted in academics, he pursued engineering and later took up a job with a shipping company. It was during a vacation home that his journey into teaching began. Friends preparing for the CAT exam sought his help. Byju, who had himself scored a perfect 100 percentile in CAT, began tutoring them. Their success led him to quit his job and start coaching full-time.
He began by teaching in his own room. As word spread, his student base grew rapidly, soon requiring larger spaces—eventually moving to stadiums. In 2007, he formally launched ‘Byju’s Classes’. Along the way, he married one of his students, Divya Gokulnath, and together they started ‘Think and Learn Pvt Ltd’, the parent company of Byju’s.
The venture quickly gained momentum. Offline coaching expanded into a full-fledged edtech business. In 2013, the company received investments from prominent names like Ranjan Pai (Manipal Group) and Mohandas Pai (ex-CFO, Infosys). In 2015, the Byju’s app was launched. The following years brought massive funding ₹1,200 crore in 2016, another ₹600 crore in 2017. By 2018, the company hit unicorn status, valued at over $1 billion.
The COVID-19 pandemic turned the company into a household name. With schools shut, online education soared. Between 2017 and 2021, Byju’s aggressively acquired 17 companies, including WhiteHat Jr for $300 million—a deal that later turned sour. Meanwhile, the brand was everywhere—on TV, cricket jerseys, IPL ads, even international deals with Lionel Messi during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
But behind the glossy campaigns and celebrity endorsements, trouble was brewing. Overambitious expansions, questionable acquisitions, and excessive marketing expenses strained the company’s finances. Byju’s losses rose to ₹4,564 crore. The acquisition of WhiteHat Jr proved a major misstep, with the platform failing to deliver expected returns.
Post-Covid, as physical schools reopened, Byju’s faced dwindling online student numbers. It also struggled to meet growth targets. The company failed to file its financial statements for 2021-22 on time, leading to the exit of key investors and auditors. In 2023, investor confidence eroded further. Funding dried up, triggering layoffs and operational disruptions.
Despite mounting losses, the company continued to spend lavishly on advertising. The quality of courses came under fire. Parents and students grew dissatisfied. Meanwhile, US lenders demanded bankruptcy proceedings, the Enforcement Directorate began probing FEMA violations, and staff began leaving in large numbers.
By 2023, the writing was on the wall—Byju’s officially admitted that its valuation had dropped to zero. By 2024, the company was reeling from legal entanglements, financial mismanagement, and a crushing debt burden. Byju Raveendran even mortgaged his house to pay employee salaries.
A journey that began with passion and promise ended in a cautionary tale of unchecked ambition. From tutoring in a small room to building one of India’s most valuable startups—and losing it all—Byju Raveendran’s story serves as a stark reminder of the perils of overexpansion, mismanagement, and losing sight of fundamentals.
