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Byju Raveendran Age, Wife, Family, Biography

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Wife: Divya Gokulnath
Hometown: Azhikode, Kerala
Age: 44 Years

Byju Raveendran

Bio/Wiki
Profession(s)Entrepreneur, Teacher
Famous forBeing the founder of the Byju's
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)5' 11" (180 cm)
Weight (approx.)80 Kg (176 lbs)
Eye ColourBrown
Hair ColourBlack
Personal Life
Date of BirthYear, 1980
Age (as of 2024)44 Years
BirthplaceAzhikode, Kerala
NationalityIndian
HometownAzhikode, Kerala
SchoolA local school of Azhikode, Kerala
College/UniversityGovernment Engineering College, Kannur, Kerala
Educational QualificationB.Tech in Mechanical Engineering
ReligionHinduism
HobbiesPlaying Football, Cricket, and Table Tennis
Controversies• Summoned by NCPCR
On 17 December 2022, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) summoned Byju Raveendran after the commission received complaints from parents and children that BYJU'S lured them into loan-based agreements for their courses. [1]The Hindu

• Loan repayment row
In March 2023, BYJU'S lenders in the United States led by investment management firm Redwood accelerated the TLB repayment alleging certain non-monetary and technical defaults, and they also seized control of Byju’s Alpha, the holding company for Byju’s, and appointed their own management. According to lenders, Byju’s Alpha was set up solely to receive the Term Loan B. Byju’s and its subsidiaries along with its acquisitions and is controlled by its parent company —Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd. According to a Bloomberg report, Byju’s Alpha was accused by the lenders of defaulting on their payments, and the lenders sought to replace Byju's chief Riju Raveendran, younger brother of Byju Raveendran, with their representative, Timothy R Pohl. The move later triggered a legal battle between the edutech group and its lenders in US courts in Delaware and New York. [2]The Hindu

• ED Raids
On 29 April 2023, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the premises of Byju's in Bengaluru in connection with alleged foreign exchange violations by the firm. According to the agency, Byju's had allegedly remitted abroad over Rs 9,700 crore of the Rs 28,000 crore it received as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) since 2011. The ED also alleged that the firm had remitted Rs 9,754 crore (approx) to various foreign jurisdictions during the same period in the name of overseas direct investment. The ED claimed that the agency started probing against Byju's after receiving complaints from various private persons. The agency also claimed that even after several summonses issued to the founder & CEO Raveendran Byju, he always remained evasive and never appeared during the investigation. While reacting to the ED raids, a spokesperson for Byju’s termed it a “routine” inquiry and said,

“We have been completely transparent with the authorities and have provided them with all the information they have requested. We have nothing but the utmost confidence in the integrity of our operations, and we are committed to upholding the highest standards of compliance and ethics.” [3]The Indian Express

In February 2024, the ED urged the Bureau of Immigration to issue a Look Out circular (LOC) against him. [4]Onmanorama

• Byju’s Alpha accused of hiding $500 million
On 19n May 2023, lenders of Byju's Alpha accused the American arm of Byju’s of defaulting on their payments and transferring half a billion dollars out of the company following which a hearing was initiated at the Delaware Chancery Court, and the court ordered the managers not to make any substantive changes in the organisation and scheduled a trial to decide who will have control of the company. On 5 June 2023, Byju's filed a complaint in the New York Supreme Court, challenging the acceleration of the loan payments, and the company refused to make any further payment to its lenders till the dispute over its terms gets settled. [5]The Hindu
Relationships & More
Marital StatusMarried
Affairs/GirlfriendsDivya Gokulnath
Byju Raveendran wife Divya Gokulnath
Family
Wife/SpouseDivya Gokulnath
ChildrenSon- Nish
Daughter- None
ParentsFather- Raveendran (Physics Teacher)
Byju Raveendran With His Father Raveendran
Mother- Shobhanavalli (Mathematics Teacher)
SiblingsBrother- Riju (Younger; Director at Byju's)
Sister- None
Money Factor
Net Worth$0 (as of 2024) [6]NDTV

Byju Raveendran

Some Lesser Known Facts About Byju Raveendran

  • He created the learning app “Byju’s-The Learning App”, and it is the only startup in Asia which is funded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife’s foundation- the “Chan Zuckerberg Initiative”.
  • Once, in an interview, he said that “Although my parents are teachers, they never pressurised me to perform well at academics. Instead, my father pushed me towards sports”. It resulted in Byju playing six sports at the university level, including Football, Cricket, Table Tennis, and Badminton.
  • Despite being a sportsperson, Byju never planned to pursue a career in sports. Like most of the students, he only thought of two professions- medical science (Doctor) and engineering. He knew that he would not get any time for sports as a medical student, he chose to become an engineer.
  • After graduating, he secured a job as a ‘service engineer’ at a multi-national shipping firm. Byju Raveendran
  • Once, when he was on a vacation in Bangalore, his friends were preparing for the CAT exam. Since Byju was good at maths, his friends asked him to guide them. Not only did he help his friends, but he also appeared for the exam, just for “fun”. To his surprise, he scored a perfect 100 percentile.
  • He wanted to ensure that his 100 percentile was not a fluke, hence, he attempted the exam once again and scored 100 percentile. He got a call from all six of the IIM’s, but, he declined all the offers; as he had no interest in doing an MBA.
  • His friends also cleared the exams with good marks. Thus, his journey of becoming a professional teacher began from the terrace of his friend’s house. He would guide MBA aspirants with tips and tricks to solve mathematics problems in the least time-consuming way. In an interview, he said, “As the number of students grew, the venue of his classes moved from friend’s terrace to a classroom, to an auditorium, and eventually to a stadium.”.
    Byju Raveendran
  • Since he was enjoying teaching, he gave up his job and began teaching. He kept the initial workshops “free of cost:”. He charged money for the advanced workshops only when the students were comfortable with his style of teaching.
  • He became so popular among students that at one point in time, he was taking maths workshops for around 20,000 students, across different cities, including Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Chennai.
  • In 2009, he began recording his lectures to make them available to students across 45 cities.
  • A few students, who had just passed out of IIM’s, contacted him and proposed the idea of taking Byju’s classes to an all-new domain. Therefore, he, along with his former students, founded a company named “Think and Learn”, which was aimed at creating content for school students. Byju operated on the idea that- “to perform well in competitive exams, students should have complete concept-clarity, which can only be imparted during a person’s schooling”.
  • By August 2015, Byju’s Android and iOS apps had over 5.5 million downloads with more than 2.5 Lacs annual subscribers.
    Byju Raveendran
  • In September 2016, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic organisation created by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, invested $50 million in Byju’s firm, making it the first start-up in India to be funded by the initiative.
  • The following snapshot sums up Byju’s journey:
    Byju's journey
  • In 2017, Byju’s- The Learning App was incorporated by the “Harvard University” as one of its case studies.
  • On 15 September 2017, Byju Raveendran was featured on the cover of the Forbes India magazine.

    Byju Raveendran Featured on the Cover of Forbes India Magazine

    Byju Raveendran Featured on the Cover of Forbes India Magazine

  • In 2019, Byju Raveendran’s net worth grew to $1 Billion.
  • In July 2019, “Byju’s-The Learning App” became the official sponsor for the Indian Cricket Team Jersey.
  • On 14 February 2019, he was awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by Ernst & Young.

    Byju Raveendran with the Entrepreneur Of The Year Award

    Byju Raveendran with the Entrepreneur Of The Year Award

  • As of July 2019, Byju’s-The Learning App has more than 10 million downloads on Android’s Play Store and has more than 35 Lacs annual paid subscribers.
  • In April 2024, Arjun Mohan resigned as the CEO of Byju’s following which Byju Raveendran took over control of day to day operations at Byju’s.
  • Here’s an interesting video about Byju Raveendran’s biography:

References/Sources:[+]