8 months ago
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In more trouble for edtech giant Byju's, the Enforcement Directorate has barred its founder Byju Raveendran from travelling outside the country. The central agency has issued a lookout circular against the 43-year-old entrepreneur. Earlier, the ED had issued a lookout circular 'on intimation' meaning that immigration authorities would inform officials concerned about any foreign trip by Raveendran, but now he can be stopped from leaving the country.
The edtech firm, once valued at over $20 billion and the poster child of India's start-up ecosystem, suffered massive losses last year and about a 90 per cent dip in valuation. It has last key investors and its auditor Deloitte has resigned. Byju's is also locked in a legal fight with lenders in the US over a $1.2 billion loan.
Raveendran, a former engineer who witnessed a meteoric rise before the ongoing crisis, has been under fire for the edtech firm's dipping fortunes.
A group of shareholders had requested for an extraordinary general meeting tomorrow to oust Raveendran and appoint a new board. But the edtech firm's founder has got some relief from a Karnataka High Court order that has said any decisions taken at the meeting would be invalid till the next hearing.
Byju's has said the reason EGM was "merely a smokescreen designed to disrupt the management, control, and functioning of the company".
Sources among the investors have told news agency AFP that the court had not prohibited the shareholder meeting from taking place. They said the meeting would be held and investors would still push to remove Raveendran as CEO.
Byju's key investors include tech investor giant Prosus, US growth equity firm General Atlantic and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative -- a philanthropic venture founded by Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. Representatives of Prosus and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative stepped down from Byju's board last year.
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