There was a time when Byju’s symbolised the rise of India’s startup dream.
Its logo featured prominently on the jersey of the Indian cricket team. Investors from around the world competed to back the company. Parents across India embraced its promise of transforming education through technology. At its peak in 2022, Byju’s was valued at a staggering $22 billion, making founder Byju Raveendran one of the most celebrated entrepreneurs in the country.
Today, the company stands at the centre of one of the biggest corporate collapses in India’s startup history.
In the latest blow, a Singapore court sentenced Byju Raveendran to six months in jail for contempt after he allegedly failed to comply with court orders linked to asset disclosures and company ownership documents.
The dramatic fall marks another chapter in a crisis that has spiralled from delayed audits and mounting debt into insolvency proceedings, accusations of fund diversion, cross-border legal battles and a global fight over missing money.
The Rise: How Byju’s Became India’s Edtech Giant
Founded in 2011 as Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, Byju’s grew rapidly by tapping into India’s obsession with education and competitive exams.
The timing worked perfectly in its favour.
As smartphones became cheaper and internet access expanded across India, online learning emerged as a booming market. Then came the Covid-19 pandemic. Schools shut down, students shifted online, and demand for digital education platforms exploded almost overnight.
Byju’s aggressively positioned itself as the future of education.
Global investors poured billions into the company. The startup expanded internationally and went on an acquisition spree, spending nearly $3 billion to acquire companies including Aakash Educational Services, Great Learning and Epic.
The company projected confidence everywhere through celebrity endorsements, massive advertising campaigns and high-profile sports sponsorships.
But beneath the rapid expansion, financial and governance concerns were quietly building.
The $1.2 Billion Loan That Triggered The Downfall
In November 2021, Byju’s secured a massive $1.2 billion term loan from overseas lenders, a move that was initially celebrated as proof that Indian startups had become global financial players.
That loan later became the centre of the company’s troubles.
The company claimed the funds would support expansion and growth. However, lenders soon began raising concerns over financial transparency and corporate governance.
Alarm bells started ringing after Byju’s delayed filing audited financial statements. Questions emerged around revenue recognition practices and the company’s financial reporting methods.
When the company finally released its FY21 numbers, investors were shocked. Losses had surged to nearly Rs 4,588 crore.
The situation worsened when auditors began walking away.
Deloitte resigned as auditor after citing delays in financial statements and communication issues. Later, BDO Global’s India affiliate also stepped down.
For investors and lenders, the resignations were seen as major red flags.
Lenders Accuse Byju’s Of Hiding Funds
By late 2022 and early 2023, the relationship between Byju’s and its lenders had completely broken down.
Creditors accused the company of breaching loan conditions, while restructuring talks failed repeatedly.
Then came the allegation that intensified the crisis globally.
Lenders claimed nearly $533 million connected to the loan had been moved without proper disclosure. Legal battles quickly spread across multiple countries.
In the United States, lenders pursued control of Byju’s Alpha through courts in Delaware and New York.
Court filings later alleged that a UK logistics company, OCI Limited, had been used to route and conceal more than $500 million through multiple entities before the money allegedly reached a Singapore-linked company connected to Byju’s operations.
The accusations significantly damaged investor confidence and deepened concerns about the company’s financial structure.
Singapore Court Sentences Byju Raveendran
Singapore eventually became another major battleground in the company’s legal troubles.
A subsidiary linked to the Qatar Investment Authority initiated legal proceedings involving investments and asset transfers connected to entities tied to Byju Raveendran.
The dispute reportedly revolved around financing arrangements related to the acquisition of Aakash Educational Services shares.
According to reports, Singapore courts issued multiple orders seeking disclosures of ownership documents and assets. The court later found that Raveendran had failed to comply with several orders issued since April 2024.
That eventually led to the contempt ruling and six-month jail sentence.
The court also directed him to pay costs and provide documents related to Beeaar Investco Pte, an entity tied to the dispute.
Insolvency Proceedings Begin In India
While legal battles escalated overseas, the crisis deepened in India.
In July 2024, the Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal admitted insolvency proceedings against Think & Learn Pvt Ltd.
Surprisingly, the trigger was relatively small compared to the company’s global liabilities — unpaid dues of approximately Rs 158 crore owed to the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
The irony was impossible to ignore.
The same cricket sponsorship deal that once symbolised Byju’s rise became one of the reasons insolvency proceedings were initiated.
Battle Over Aakash Educational Services
One of the most critical battles now revolves around Aakash Educational Services, widely considered Byju’s most valuable remaining asset.
Byju’s acquired Aakash in 2021 for nearly $1 billion as part of its strategy to strengthen hybrid online-offline education.
However, during insolvency proceedings, Aakash proposed a rights issue to raise fresh capital.
Byju’s strongly opposed the move, arguing that its ongoing insolvency troubles prevented it from participating properly and would sharply dilute its ownership stake — potentially reducing it from about 25.75 per cent to below 5 per cent.
Tribunals have so far refused to block the rights issue.
Employees Unpaid, Investors Furious
As lawsuits and insolvency proceedings multiplied, operational problems became impossible to hide.
Employees reported salary delays and layoffs spread across departments. Several investors publicly criticised the company’s management and governance standards.
Board members resigned. Investor confidence collapsed.
The valuation decline was brutal.
From a peak valuation of $22 billion, Byju’s saw its estimated worth collapse dramatically, with some investors reportedly valuing the company below $1 billion.
Forbes eventually reduced Byju Raveendran’s net worth to zero.
A Cautionary Tale For India’s Startup Ecosystem
The fall of Byju’s is now being viewed as more than just the collapse of one company.
It has become a warning for India’s startup ecosystem about the risks of aggressive expansion, debt-driven growth, weak governance and unchecked spending.
The company grew at extraordinary speed, but expanded faster than its financial systems and controls could handle.
When the post-pandemic slowdown arrived, the cracks widened rapidly.
Today, the company that once promised to redefine global education is battling insolvency in India, lawsuits in the US, asset disputes in Singapore and mounting allegations tied to missing funds.
And the story still appears far from over.