So, what do you know about byju’s? 

BYJU’S is an Indian educational technology company that was founded by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath in 2011. The headquarter of Byju’s is in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. In 2024, Byju’s valuation hit rock bottom. It currently stands at $ 1 billion. However, Byju’s CEO still claims that the platform has more than 115 million registered students. 

Company Overview

Here is the basic information about Byju’s.

Company Profile

Company History

Byju Raveendran was an engineer before he started the company. At that time, he used to give coaching classes to students who used to learn mathematics. Later, Byju, along with his wife Divya Gokulnath and a bunch of students, started Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd in 2011. Their focus was to spread education to K-12 students and make them ready for any sort of competitive exams.

In 2012, the company entered Deloitte Technology Fast Asia Pacific and Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India. The company is still on the list. After a couple of years, the company was able to launch its mobile application named Byju’s: The Learning App. after two years of that, the company started Byju’s Parent Connect app and Byju’s App for kids as well. The platform had already reached 15 million users in 2018.

At that time, the platform had 900,000 paid customers. 2018 was the year when Byju’s hit the Unicorn mark and became the first edtech unicorn in India. Within one year, Byju’s started to target rural cities and non-metro cities, so 60% of the students are from those areas.

Last year, the company, along with Unacademy, Simplilearn, PrepInsta Prime, upGrad, and Vedantu, joined the IAMAI and made the Edtech Consortium. Last year, Byjus made a partnership with the Qatar Investment Authority to launch a new edtech company. They have already made an R&D center in Doha.

Controversies

What do you know about byju’s controversies lately? 

Never-ending controversies are hovering over Byju’s. Among many controversies, the BCCI filed a petition for insolvency against the company recently.  

The main challenge that Byju’s faced is that Raveendran could not stop the continuous cash drain. He tried his best to convince investors to give more cash flow. But no results yielded.  

Inappropriate acquisitions 

In November 2021, the company got a term loan of $1.2 billion. However, experts say that the fund was wasted. Byju’s started acquiring many companies rampantly. Byju’s thought that they could create a network of successful ed-tech businesses around the world.  

Problems started when the investors wanted a full refund of the investment amount.  

Byju’s had no money to pay back.  

The ed-tech giant acquired the US based Epic for $500 million. Byju’s also got Osmo for $120 million. India based Aakash was bought for $ 1 billion too. Lastly, VET platform Great Learning was bought for $600 million.  

Out of the 19 acquisitions, 9 happened in 2021 only. The company wanted to be at the top line. However, they gradually shifted away from their core business.  

What was the core business? 

Initially they wanted to make effective coaching available for all. This was their key motto.  

However, Byju’s started failing when their key business did not gain traction. The company had no intention of resolving the issues. Rather they wanted to create alternative revenue sources. Instead, I believe Byju’s could investigate the market gap.  

They could hire analysts with the term investment value. But their CEO had different plans. 

Discrepancy in disclosures  

In 2022, Byju’s delayed the disclosure of their financials largely.  

After than the company reported that an EBIDTA loss of approximately INR 2253 crores. Last year they reported a loss of INR 2406 crores. This year it was only 6% lower.  

That’s not all. There are legal petitions against the brand too. Recently the Enforcement Directorate of India (ED) sent a caution notice to Byju’s. The company violated the FEMA Act. This act governs the foreign exchange management in India.  

Byju’s hid the real issues. They reported that most of the issues in the notice were linked to procedural deficiencies. However, ED expressed suspicion about the foreign investments received by Think and Learn Pvt Ltd. It is the parent company of Byju’s.  

The Davidson issues 

The latest issue of non-transparent financial transaction surfaced during the Davidson Kempner loan repayment. Byju’s subsidiary Aakash received a funding of INR 1400 crores from Manipal Education and Education Group. The reasons for this elaborate invetment are still unclear.  

Critics say that Ranjan Pai, chairperson to the Group helped Byju’s to pay of the debt through this investment.  

Davidson authorized a loan of $250 million for Byju’s. However, the invester held back $100 as Byju’s was facing crisis. It was not sure if Byju’s could revive through this investment.  

Last week someone asked me what do you know about Byju’s. I could only offer a list of issues. I feel there is no silver lining. The brand is dying.   

Last year, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs sent a letter to Byjus and asked them about the non-filling audit financials for 2021. They also told that Byjus missed the deadline for the last 17 months. Though there were so many issues at that time, Deloitte gave a clean audit. Last year, the company sacked more than 5,000 employees, and they reported unfair treatment. 

There were so many criticisms against the company for charging fees. There were so many former salespersons who pushed the service and products and were not capable of affording them. This is why byjus sued Pradeep Poonia and filed a defamation case of 20 crore Indian rupees, but after, it was withdrawn. 

Other than this, the company faced another lawsuit for running misleading advertisements. There are also hard sales tactics and so many malpractices. Recently, the Advertising Standards Council of India filed a case against them. The company claims to make a 6-year-old child a coder, which is impossible. 

First of all, there were data leaks, and more than 200,000 users’ data was leaked. DCA also worked closely with the company regarding the complaints. There are 115 guidelines that the company broke, this report was reported by the Indian Accounting Standards. 

Sports Sponsorships

In 2019, the company won the sponsorship rights and started to sponsor the Indian cricket team jersey. Other than this, the company took the sponsorship of Kerala Blasters FC, this was a team in Indian Super League. Earlier this, the main sponsor was Muthoot Group. Recently Byjus became the official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. However, BCCI filed insolvency against Byju’s immediately.  

Philanthropy

In 2020, there was a program that byjus launched with the name of Education for All, this was basically an initiative so that every kid could get an education. There are also other initiatives. They started giving free content and distributed them. They also launched smart devices as well.

What Is Byjus? : Customer Reviews

Brands will definitely be doing their heavy promotion with the help of celebrity endorsements and other promotional tactics. However, what is more important is how the brand and its products or services reach out to who they were built for – the customers.

All the branding, strategies, and promotions will roll down the hill if the customers are not satisfied with what the brand serves. This will not only perish the existing customer base but also lessen the chances of acquiring potential customers through negative word of mouth.

Here are some of the most authentic customer reviews about Byjus and its services, which are the exact reflection of what the brand is all about.

First, we have Parth M., who is a student intern and a software engineer. Let us see what he has to say about the Byjus and its services.

“Byju’s provides learning content to students who desire to learn independently via online mode by giving courses based on their interests. Each course has pre recorded classes and online tutors.Not every course is worth buying because some of them have high subscription fees. Sometimes their customer service doesn’t respond to complaints and sends lots of spam emails. Byju’s enables the students to learn more without even going to traditional coaching centers by allowing them to learn at home. There is an individual tutor allocated for teaching each course we buy.”

This is a well appreciated feature of Byjus. Going to tuition can be quite hectic, especially for students in higher classes. Therefore, having a tuition service that caters to all their needs while not having to step out of their house is very beneficial.

Next, we have Vijay K., who is a product strategist who has brought up a very crucial disadvantage many customers have indeed complained about.

“Byju’s provided a platform which is fun and effective at the same time. They come up with fresh learning on a regular basis which makes learning desirable. The wide range of courses available helps choose courses that suit us.One major drawback of Byjus would be the cost charged for their courses. This means that it is kept restricted to middle or upper middle class people.Uses online platforms in an effective manner. Excellent virtual learning platform.”

Byjus is an educational platform. Therefore, charging higher costs for their courses is unnecessary. A lot of customers have, in fact, complained about the higher costs that Byjus charges for their courses. This is something the brand should listen to as there are multiple alternatives in the market that customers can choose from.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):-

Here are some interesting questions and answers that most people ask about BYJUS.

Final Words

The company is one of the companies that acquired Osmo, an American educational game, for $120 million. Then it acquired one of its rivals for $300 million. It is another start-up named WhiteHat Jr. Then the company started acquiring Scholr, Akash Educational Service Lts., Toppr, GeoGebra, and many other start-ups just to secure its position at the top.

I hope you will find this article interesting. If so, then please share and give your feedback. Thank You.

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