Byju Raveendran | |
---|---|
Born | 1980 (age 43–44) |
Nationality | Indian |
Education | Bachelor of Technology |
Alma mater | Government College of Engineering, Kannur |
Occupation | Entrepreneur |
Title | Founder & CEO of Byju's |
Spouse | Divya Gokulnath |
Byju Raveendran (Malayalam: ബൈജു രവീന്ദ്രൻ; born 1980)[1] is an Indian entrepreneur, investor and educator who, with his wife Divya Gokulnath, co-founded Byju's.
Byju was born in 1980 in the Azhikode[1][2] village of Kerala, India to Raveendran and Shobhanavalli, physics and mathematics teachers, respectively.[3][4] He studied at a Malayalam medium school where his mother was a mathematics teacher and father a physics teacher.[5][6] He would skip classes and then learn at home.[7][8]
After completing his B.Tech from the Government College of Engineering, Kannur, he joined a multinational shipping company as a service engineer.[3] During a vacation in 2003, he helped his friends who were studying for the CAT exam.[6] He then took the CAT exam and scored in the 100th percentile.[6] When he took the exam again, he again scored in the 100th percentile.[9] Two years later, he continued helping people study for the CAT exam, and based on the good results, decided to quit his job.[6]
In 2007, Byju founded the test preparation business Byju's Classes,[6] and the company grew to stadium-size classes.[10] In 2011, he founded Byju's with his wife, Divya Gokulnath,[5] whom he met while she was a student in his exam preparation class.[11][12]
In 2015, as smartphone screen sizes increased, Byju's launched an app developed by Byju for students to learn on their handheld devices.[13][6][14][15] In October 2018, the app expanded to the United Kingdom, United States and other English-speaking countries.[16] By July 2022, the app had been downloaded more than 150 million times, and on average, its users spent 71 minutes on the app every day.[17]
In 2021, Byju was heading advanced talks to acquire Vedantu for around $600-$700 million, but the deal didn't get through due to pending regulatory approvals.[18]
According to Forbes, as of 2020, Byju, his wife, and his brother Riju Raveendran, have a combined net worth of $3.4 billion.[19] In January 2021, he was added to the National Startup Advisory Council as a non-official member.[20] In April 2021, Byju's purchased the Indian test-prep provider Aakash Educational Services Ltd. for nearly US$1 billion.[21][22]
In July 2022, Byju invested $400 million in BYJU’S in his personal capacity to further increase his stake in the company.[23]
Byju married Divya Gokulnath, who was one of his early students, in 2009. Together they have two sons.[24]