Fall in love with learning
BYJU'S
Tagline
Net Worth
$1,900,000,000
Started in (City)
Banglore
Started in (Country)
India
Incorporation Date
06th December, 2018
Bankruptcy Date
-
Founders
- Byju Raveendran
About
Byju's is an Indian educational technology (EdTech) and online tutoring company established in 2011 by Byju Raveendran. The corporation was listed at US$12 billion in November 2020 and is one of the country's most profitable private internet firms. With the tag line ' Fall in Love with Learning' and Shah Rukh Khan as the brand ambassador, Byju's is India's leading EdTech startup. Owned by former teacher-turned entrepreneur Byju Raveendran and with Think and Learn as the parent company Byju's is a personalized learning site for K-12 students (kindergarten to class 12th).
Beginning
The start of Byju's Learning and the subsequent extension of the company into the Decadron community is a fascinating story. Raveendran was an architect working for a transportation company in the United States. Born in a modest family to parents who were teachers themselves, Raveendran had a regular childhood. He had a passion for math and athletics while growing up. During his time in the U.S., he will teach some of his friends' tips on clearing CAT. He himself had passed the exam with 100 percent, but he never joined either of the IIM's. With his passion for teaching, Raveendran wanted to bring about a transformative shift in education and learning, particularly for subjects such as math and science. What began with teaching a few students turned into classes held in auditoriums with a potential of more than 1000 students for VSAT classes gradually contributed to the birth of Think and Learn in 2011. Byju's learning app came into being in 2015, and the flagship was targeted at school children. The app works on a freemium model i.e. some of the lectures are complimentary while others under the premium service come with extra cost. Apart from school-learning children, the app also caters to candidates for competitive exams such as IIT-JEE, NEET, GRE, GMAT, etc. The material is currently in English and Hindi. Talks were held in 2019 on the release of educational material in regional languages. There were also reports about the introduction of an international edition of the app for English-speaking students from other countries. Byju's app was created by Think and Learn Pvt Ltd, founded by Byju Raveendran in 2011. Raveendran, who was qualified as an architect, began teaching students to pass the mathematics exams in 2006. In 2011, with the assistance of his students, he formed an educational company providing online video-based learning services for the K-12 division as well as competition tests. Think and Learn joined both Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India and Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific scores in 2012 and has been present there ever since. In August 2015, after four years of growth, Byju's: The Learning App was released. Think and Learn launched Byju's Math App for Children and Byju's Parent Connect App in 2017 to help parents monitor their child's learning. By 2018, there were 1.5 crores (15 million) users and 900,000 paying users. Byju's secured sponsorship rights for the Indian cricket team jersey in July 2019, replacing its previous sponsor, Oppo. Shah Rukh Khan is the ambassador of Byju's brand.
Road to Success
Byju's is a free-to-use educational tutoring service, with free access to content restricted to 15 days after enrollment. It was unveiled in August 2015, providing instructional material for students from Class 4 to 12, and the Early Learning Curriculum for Class 1 to 3 began in 2019. It also prepares students for examinations in India, such as IIT-JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS, and international exams such as GRE and GMAT. Academic topics and principles are explained in 12-20 minute immersive animation sequences. By estimates a total of 4 crores (40 million) users, 30 lakh (3 million) annual paying subscribers, and an annual retention rate of around 85 percent. In 2019, the company revealed that it will begin its application in regional Indian languages. A foreign version of the app was also intended for English-speaking students in other countries. Recently, Byju has launched new services for kindergarten students through its Early Learn App. The second most valued startup after Paytm the present net worth of the company is between $8.2 -10.5 billion. Its marquee investors include Facebook Co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, China’s Tencent, South African private equity firm Naspers, and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Mary Meeker’s Bond Capital. The latest round of funding was $200 million from New York-based Tiger Global Management. There were hardly any learning apps available when Byju’s started its operation and now they are prime players in the education market. What sets Byju’s apart from other learning app is the right balance between effectiveness and engagement. Raveendran thinks that “What we have created now are movie-like videos and game-like interactions. It is a format that students like, offered on devices they are friendly with. That has helped us get good student engagement from the early days. Our core strength has been making the learning experience effective.” Personalize and customize the learning experience of students through knowledge graphs, one on one mentoring, and feedback sessions make it the unicorn of the learning industry. “I believe when you take sessions in auditoriums, you’re creating a kind of fan following. You can’t do a math class in a stadium. It has to be a math performance," says Raveendran. Their approach combines the reinvention of learning, world-class teachers, proven pedagogical methods, and personalized learning.
Challenges
“My experience with graduate students made me realize that you can make a bigger impact if you can intervene in the way students learn in their formative years,” he says.
The company has also expanded under the leadership of Raveendran and his trusted board members, one of them being his wife. “I just capitalized on two of my strengths—the logic which I got from my love for math. Math is still my first love, and the real-life skills, that extremely positive attitude which you learn from games”, says Raveendran
They have recently acquired WhiteHat Jr which is a Mumbai-based startup that provides an online platform for children to learn coding and build commercial apps. Fifth largest acquisition by the company (after acquiring Math Adventures, Tutor Vista, Vidyarthi, and Osmo)
Its evaluation has quadrupled over the last few years. The 2019 global pandemic has catalyzed online education making it the new ‘ normal’ in the educational sector adding to the meteoric growth of the company. As an attempt to continue the process of stimulating learning in children Byju’s offered free content to students during the lockdown as a result of which six million new students joined the platform. There was a150% increase in traffic on the app.
Raveendran is the Youngest billionaire, 72nd on the Forbes India Rich List. An amalgamation of a confident personality, passion for teaching, dedication towards revolutionizing the process of learning, conceptual clarity along conviction has led to Raveendran’s success. Raveendran was awarded the 2018 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the startup category. Byju’s has received many accolades such as the Big Research NDTV Profit Business & Service Excellence Award, CNBC-TV 18 Crisil Emerging India Award in Education, Deloitte Technology Fast 50 India, and Fast 500 Asia Award (for four consecutive years).
As a leader, Raveendran makes sure to consciously acknowledge the efforts and hard work put in by his employees constructing a conducive and positive work environment. He believes that “You encourage them, and kids get a lot more excited about that. That’s why if you want to do something positive, you need to appreciate them a lot more than what they deserve. This is something which I believe because it has worked for me and I see that working with my kid, and I see that working with people who are close to me now as part of my team”
Byju Raveendran is the true epitome of a passionate teacher who has not only made his mark through his teaching but has also revolutionized the education and learning sector. Eagerly waiting for what’s next in store for them.
Failures
Byju's are asked to withdraw their five TV ads from the Indian Advertising Standards Council (ASCI) due to incorrect advertising. Byju's affiliate, WhiteHat Jr., created a fictitious character called "Wolf Gupta" for its social media ads, without denying that he was just a character. They also said that his age was between 6–14 years old, who had received work offers worth crores in numerous posters. Byju was forced to pay $52,000 in fees to Dinesh Kumar of Aminjikarai. Byju's commercial promised that classes would begin in the first week of December 2016. Yet, one month later, classes began at Anna Nagar in January 2017, with no facilities and no teachers, and the venue changed three times.
Achievements
- EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Start up) 2018
- Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2017
- Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2016
CEOs
- Byju Raveendran