It is about April this year. Enforcement Directorate i.e. ED raided the office of edtech startup Byju's. This case was related to violation of foreign currency. The owner of the company, Raveendran, was in Dubai to raise $1 billion from investors in the Middle East when the raids took place. He was drinking black coffee while roaming around his apartment. Only then the calls from the company's top investors started coming.
Raveendran broke down in tears while defending his company, according to a Bloomberg report. The Enforcement Directorate had taken this action on the basis of complaints from some people. Raveendran is also alleged to have issued several summons in his name, but he never appeared before the ED. In addition, several American investors have accused Byju's of hiding $50 million and filed lawsuits.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prosus NV, one of the early investors in the company, informed that it has resigned from the board due to poor governance and non-compliance of the advice of the directors. However, Byju's has denied this. Recently, GV Ravi Shankar of Peak VX Partners, Vivian Wu of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Russell Driessenstock of Prosus also left the board of Byju's.
Recently, the central government had ordered an inquiry into the account books of Byju's. This investigation will be followed by an internal assessment of the affairs of the company. Based on what emerges, the government will decide whether the matter needs to be referred to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office.
Ravindran recently told employees that the best performance of BYJU'S is yet to come. The company hasn't come this far just to last. Raveendran is confident of an investment of $1 billion from the Middle East. This investment can happen in the beginning of next month. He is also reaching out to some of his early supporters in India to tide over the cash flow crisis.
