Byju Raveendran (Malayalam: ബൈജു രവീന്ദ്രൻ; born 1980) is an Indian entrepreneur, investor and educator who, with his wife

Divya Gokulnath Divya Gokulnath is an Indian entrepreneur and educator who is the co-founder and director of Byju's, an educational technology company founded in 2012 in Bangalore, India. Early life and education Divya was born in Bengaluru. Her father is ...

, co-founded Byju's.

Early life and education

Byju was born in 1980 in the Azhikode village of

Kerala, India Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...

to Raveendran and Shobhanavalli, physics and mathematics teachers, respectively. He studied at a

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

medium school where his mother was a mathematics teacher and father a physics teacher. He would skip classes and then learn at home.

Career

After completing his

B.Tech A Bachelor of Technology (Latin ''Baccalaureus Technologiae'', commonly abbreviated as B.Tech. or BTech; with honours as B.Tech. (Hons.)) is an undergraduate academic degree conferred after the completion of a three to five-year program of stud ...

from the

Government College of Engineering, Kannur The Government College of Engineering, Kannur (GCEK) is a public engineering institute affiliated to APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University in Kerala, ndia. The institute was established in October 1986 by Directorate of Technical Education ...

, he joined a multinational shipping company as a service engineer. During a vacation in 2003, he helped his friends who were studying for the CAT exam. He then took the CAT exam and scored in the 100th percentile. When he took the exam again, he again scored in the 100th percentile. Two years later, he continued helping people study for the CAT exam, and based on the good results, decided to quit his job. In 2007, Byju founded the test preparation business Byju's Classes, and the company grew to stadium-size classes. In 2011, he founded Byju's with his wife,

, who he met while she was a student in his exam preparation class. In 2015, as smartphone screen sizes increased, Byju's launched an app developed by Raveendran for students to learn on their handheld devices. In October 2018, the app expanded to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and other English-speaking countries. By July 2022, the app had been downloaded more than 150 million times, and on average, its users spent 71 minutes on the app every day. In 2021, Raveendran was heading advanced talks to acquire Vedantu for around $600-$700 million, but the deal didn't get through due to pending regulatory approvals. According to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'', as of 2020, Byju, his wife, and his brother Riju Raveendran, have a combined net worth of $3.4 billion. In January 2021, he was added to the National Startup Advisory Council as a non-official member. In April 2021, Byju's purchased the Indian test-prep provider Aakash Educational Services Ltd. for nearly billion. In July 2022, Raveendran invested $400 million in BYJU’S in his personal capacity to further increase his stake in the company.

Personal life

Raveendran married

, who was one of his early students, in 2009. Together they have two sons.

Honors and awards

* 2017

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

IT Awards * 2019 Manorama News Newsmaker award * 2020

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewat ...

Finalist, Entrepreneur of the Year, India and Winner, Business Transformation Award * 2020 Fortune Magazine's '

40 Under 40 ''Fortune'' magazine's 40 Under 40 is a list of individuals the publication considers to be the most influential young leaders for the year. The list has existed in two phases: First, from 1999 to 2003, the list was presented purely as a numeric ...

' list * 2021 Forbes India Leadership Award (FILA) Entrepreneur for the Year

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raveendran, Byju Indian company founders Living people Indian billionaires People from Kannur district Businesspeople from Kannur Byju's 1980 births