What happened to BYJU'S?
BYJU'S, the brand of Bengaluru-based Think and Learn Private Limited, went from India's most valuable startup to an insolvency case in about two years. Founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath, it was valued at $22 billion in 2022. On 16 July 2024 the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Bengaluru admitted it into corporate insolvency over Rs 158.9 crore of unpaid cricket sponsorship dues owed to the BCCI. Since then a resolution professional, Shailendra Ajmera of EY, has run the company, Epic and Great Learning have left the group, and its recorded stake in Aakash Educational Services had fallen to 13.72% by March 2026.
From CAT classes to a learning app
Raveendran, an engineer from Azhikode in Kerala, started by helping friends prepare for the CAT, India's business school entrance test, and scored in the 100th percentile himself twice. His classes grew into auditorium and stadium sessions with thousands of students. Think and Learn first sold recorded lessons on SD cards and tablets, then launched the BYJU'S app in 2015 with animated maths and science lessons. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative led a $50 million round in 2016, its first investment in Asia.
How BYJU'S made money
The app was the shop window; the money came from multi-year course packages sold by a large field sales team, often with a tablet and a loan from a partner NBFC. In FY2020, the last full year before the pandemic:
- Tablets and SD cards loaded with courses brought in Rs 1,676 crore, 70.4% of operating revenue.
- Reference books added Rs 561 crore, or 23.5%.
- Tuition and service fees made up the remaining Rs 145 crore.
- Advertising and promotion was the biggest cost at Rs 1,176 crore, 39% of all expenses.
The acquisition spree and what became of it
Between 2019 and 2021 BYJU'S spent more than $2.5 billion on companies, much of it at pandemic-era prices. Most of those deals have since been sold cheaply or lost:
- Aakash Educational Services (2021, about $950 million): now controlled by Manipal Health Systems with 63.95%; Think and Learn's recorded stake was 13.72% on 31 March 2026.
- Great Learning (2021, $600 million): founder Mohan Lakhamraju bought back full control in early 2024 after the cash part of the deal went unpaid.
- Epic (2021, $500 million): sold to TAL Education for $95 million in May 2025.
- Tynker (2021, $200 million): sold to CodeHS for $2.2 million in 2025.
- WhiteHat Jr (2020, $300 million), Toppr (2021) and GeoGebra (2021): still held and offered to bidders.
BYJU'S revenue and losses by year
| Fiscal year (ended 31 March) | Revenue | Net result |
|---|---|---|
| FY2019 | Rs 1,306 crore | Loss of Rs 8.82 crore |
| FY2020 | Rs 2,381 crore | Loss of about Rs 262 crore |
| FY2021 | Rs 2,428 crore | Loss of about Rs 4,564 crore |
| FY2022 | Rs 5,298 crore | Loss of Rs 8,245 crore |
The FY2022 accounts were filed in January 2024, about 22 months late. No audited consolidated accounts have been filed for FY2023 or later.
How BYJU'S ended up in insolvency
Three problems arrived together. Demand for online learning dropped when schools reopened in 2022. The company had borrowed a $1.2 billion term loan in November 2021, and in 2023 lenders declared it in default; their agent, GLAS Trust, took control of the US financing unit BYJU'S Alpha, which entered Chapter 11. And the accounts were late: Deloitte resigned as auditor in June 2023. A $200 million rights issue in early 2024 valued the company at roughly $225 million to $250 million. The BCCI's claim then tipped Think and Learn into insolvency; the NCLAT closed the case after a settlement in August 2024, but the Supreme Court restored it on 23 October 2024.
The legal fight has since spread across countries. In February 2025 the Delaware bankruptcy court found Riju Ravindran, Camshaft Capital and Think and Learn responsible for a scheme to move about $533 million out of BYJU'S Alpha. In November 2025 it entered a default judgment of about $1.07 billion against Byju Raveendran, later reopened to determine damages. In May 2026 a Singapore court sentenced him to six months in jail for contempt over orders about his assets. He denies wrongdoing.
Who owns and runs BYJU'S now?
Think and Learn is still legally owned by its shareholders, with Byju Raveendran's family among the largest holders, but under India's Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code the board's powers are suspended and the resolution professional manages the company under the oversight of a committee of creditors. The RP invited bids for the whole company or for parts such as the Aakash stake, GeoGebra, WhiteHat Jr and Toppr, and Ranjan Pai of the Manipal group expressed interest in November 2025. On 22 July 2026 the NCLT paused the bidding process while disputes raised by the founders were heard. On 23 September 2026 Think and Learn and Aakash told the tribunal they had settled their rights issue dispute, on terms not yet disclosed.
BYJU'S competitors
In FY2020 BYJU'S revenue of Rs 2,381 crore dwarfed Unacademy's Rs 65.1 crore and Vedantu's Rs 35.8 crore. The market then moved away from it. PhysicsWallah won students with low-cost courses, Unacademy and Vedantu competed on live classes, upGrad and Coursera took adult upskilling, and classroom chains such as Allen and Aakash itself kept their hold on JEE and NEET coaching.
What comes next
The company's future depends on whether creditors and the NCLT approve a resolution plan. If they do, a buyer could take over Think and Learn or its separate brands. If not, the company would be liquidated and its assets sold off. Either way, BYJU'S has become the standard example in Indian startups of what happens when fast growth is funded by debt and acquisitions without timely, audited accounts.
