byju’s board members resign: More trouble for Byju’s as key board members resign: sources

In an unexpected development that likely underscores deeper troubles at edtech major Byju’s, early backer GV Ravishankar, managing director at Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India), has resigned from the company’s board, according to two people in the know.

Also exiting with Ravishankar are board members Russell Dreisenstock of Prosus (previously Naspers) and Chan Zuckerberg’s Vivian Wu, signalling the downward spiral now facing the once-most-valued privately held Indian startup.

The resignations are yet to be accepted by the company, these people said.

These exits couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Bengaluru-based edtech which finds itself engulfed by court cases, loan defaults, and a much-delayed filing of its financial results for the year ending March 31, 2022.

“All the three investors have collectively decided to resign…There are ongoing discussions between the company and the shareholders,” said another person in the know of the matter.

Last year, Prosus had said it lost ‘significant influence’ over Byju’s as its stake was diluted to just below 10% in the firm. As of November 2022, it held about 9.67% stake in the edtech firm which is facing multiple challenges currently including finalising new terms for its $1.2 billion term loan B.

When contacted by ETtech, spokespersons for Peak XV Partners, Prosus and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, did not immediately respond. An emailed query sent to Byju’s also did not elicit a response Thursday.

Also read | Byju’s and the debt trap haunting Indian tech startups

Byju’s versus lenders

Byju’s is presently negotiating with its lenders for its $1.2 billion term loan B, even as both sides have filed suits against each other. The company continues to hold one-on-one conversations with creditors to finalise new terms for the loan, ET reported earlier.

While lenders like Glas Trust Company are pursuing legal action against the edtech firm in Delaware, US, Byju’s has filed a suit against hedge fund Redwood and its entities in New York, against their demand for “accelerated repayment”.

Led by founder and CEO Byju Raveendran, Byju’s has since the past year been shedding thousands of jobs to cut costs amid slowdown in funding and growth stalling in the online education sector post the pandemic bump-up. Earlier this week, the General Atlantic-backed firm undertook a fresh round of job cuts that would impact up to 1,000 jobs, ET had reported. These layoffs are expected to be across departments in Byju’s as well as its coding subsidiary– Whitehat Jr.

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