FIR against BYJU's Founder Byju Raveendran: Fraud allegations rock Edtech giant

Digital Desk

In a major setback for India's edtech sector, the Mumbai Police's Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) has filed an FIR against BYJU's founder Byju Raveendran and company directors for alleged fraud and forgery worth Rs.46.90 crore. The case targets Think and Learn Private Limited (BYJU's parent firm), along with Riju Raveendran (director) and Divya Gokulnath (co-founder and director).

The complaint, lodged by Aditya Birla Capital, accuses the edtech company of defrauding lenders who financed student loans for entrance exam preparations like NEET, CUET, JEE Mains, and UPSC. This development adds to BYJU's ongoing woes, including financial struggles and layoffs amid a post-pandemic slowdown.

Byju Raveendran's journey from humble beginnings to edtech stardom is equally compelling. Born in Azhikode, Kerala, to teacher parents—father Ravindran (physics) and mother Shobhanavalli (mathematics)—Byju attended a local Malayalam medium school before earning a BTech in Mechanical Engineering from Government College of Engineering, Kannur.

Post-graduation, he joined Pan Ocean Shipping Ltd. as a service engineer. In 2003, during a two-month leave, Byju began tutoring friends for CAT, scoring a perfect 100 percentile on his first attempt—and repeating it in 2004. Despite IIM interview calls, he stuck with his job initially.

By 2007, his informal coaching grew exponentially, leading to weekend classes at Bengaluru's Jyoti Nivas College and eventually auditoriums hosting over 1,000 students across nine cities. In 2009, he pivoted to online video teaching.

Founding Think and Learn in 2011, Byju targeted K-12 education and entrance exams, addressing foundational gaps in school learning. The BYJU's app launched in 2015, exploding in popularity with over 15 crore downloads by 2022 and users averaging 71 minutes daily.

In 2018, investments from Sequoia Capital, Tencent, and Mark Zuckerberg's Chan Zuckerberg Initiative propelled BYJU's to a $3.6 billion valuation, making it Asia's first edtech unicorn funded by the Facebook founder.

This fraud case raises questions about governance in India's booming edtech industry. BYJU's has yet to respond officially, but the FIR could impact investor confidence and student trust.