Bengaluru:
Byju Raveendran, co-founder of edtech company Byju’s, today assured employees of a strong comeback in light of an escalating crisis at the company. In his first townhall since several board members resigned, Mr Raveendran said that the company is in a tough phase, but will bounce back soon.
Admitting that it has been a tough year for Byju’s, he said “Last 12 months we have been struggling. But edtech will stay forever, and we are the pioneers. We are in the correct space.”
Byju’s is in talks with prospective shareholders to raise as much as $1 billion to stave off attempts by some of its existing investors to wrest control from co-founder Byju Raveendran. The startup, which was once valued at $22 billion, is facing slowing growth, and the company has missed deadlines for filing its financial results and paying interest on a loan.
Last week, three global investors at the company said their representatives had resigned from Byju’s board, while Deloitte said it was resigning as the company’s auditor because it had not received financial statements for 2021-22.
At the townhall today, the CEO addressed all these developments and said that the exit of the investors had been amiable, and was not related to Deloitte’s resignation.
“The company is now actively expanding and diversifying its board to reflect the scale, scope, and reach of operations, which is a routine practice for large companies,” he said.
He urged his team to “rise above the noise” and said that the company has weathered storms before and emerged stronger every time. He ended his speech on an optimistic note saying that the best of Byju’s is yet to come.
