Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO (CEO) of distressed Ed-Tech giant BYJU, accepted some “business mistakes” that put the company in financial turmoil as education startups aim to expand to 21 countries outside India. Anni Saturday, May 17, 2025.
In an interview with the news agency, Raveendran emphasized his feeling that Byju is too fast to expand to foreign markets, adding that the company could have viewed it as “a little slower.”
“When we tried to expand from India to the whole world, we made some business mistakes. Maybe we might be a little slower. We are growing too fast, too fast. We are from India to 21 new countries,” Raveendran said.
Liquidity became the biggest concern for startups in the context of the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate rise, which “makes” market liquidity “dry”.
“($700 million in commitment capital – signed promise capital – did not appear.” The founder told the news agency. Since then, Raveendran claims they have been struggling with liquidity.
“Since then, it’s early 2022, now it’s three years and we’ve been working on liquidity. But luckily, we’ve got enough liquidity and we’re about putting all the money back,” he said.
$1.2 billion in loan
Founder Byju Raveendran also admitted that one of the company’s biggest mistakes was the $1.2 billion term loan in 2021, despite sufficient equity funding options.
“Only you ask me, this all creates all this, which is something we shouldn’t take, and when we have enough equity options, we shouldn’t get this semester loan in 2021. Billion dollars (USD) because it has other options. We have other options. We raised $5 billion before that.
Raveendran’s speech comes as ED-Tech startups face financial problems, regulatory issues and legal battles.
Threats and legal troubles
While Byju’s wife, Divya Gokulnath, was experiencing a financial and legal battle, they allegedly faced a targeted campaign of intimidation and stress strategies to threaten husbands, including family members, colleagues, and even legal consulting agencies, including family members, colleagues, and even family members, including family members.
Gokulnath also admitted that she was threatened by the issue.
“Yes. They’re everywhere. They send people to look like fools. They think we’ll be scared. They don’t know what we are. They don’t know where we are,” Raveendran’s wife told Ani.
Byju’s 3.0
Raveendran also highlighted the company’s focus on “profit targets” and said he will continue to focus on the transformative power of students, teachers and learning.
“About Byju’s 3.0. I’m happy to talk to you about this because neither of us belongs to the court. We belong to the classroom. That’s where we belong. These classrooms belong to India, which is our biggest advantage. It’s a respect for teachers, respect for learning,” Raveendran said.
Despite the setbacks of the troubled ED-Tech startup, Byju Raveendran remained optimistic and said it was his responsibility to rebuild the company.
“The reason we don’t give up Byju is because we should attribute it to the students, teachers and staff who trust us,” Raveendran quoted ANI as saying.
