BYJU’S Ropes In Former upGrad CEO Arjun Mohan As Head Of International Business

Beleaguered edtech major BYJU’S has hired former upGrad CEO Arjun Mohan as the CEO of its international business. Mohan left upGrad in December last year to explore outside opportunities.

This is not Mohan’s first stint with BYJU’S. Earlier, he was the chief business officer of the edtech giant for 11 years.

Byju Raveendran will remain as group CEO and Mrinal Mohit will continue to head the India business, news agency PTI reported.

BYJU’s has entities in Singapore, the United States, and the Middle East. Its group company Great Learning acquired Singapore-based Northwest Executive Education last year for about $100 Mn in a stock and cash deal.

Last year, BYJU’S also partnered with Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) to launch a new edtech business and R&D centre in Doha, Qatar.

The development comes at a time when the edtech startup has been in the news for all the wrong reasons and is also under pressure for repayment of a loan. Recently, BYJU’S skipped a payment for its $1.2 term loan B and also sued one of its lenders in a US court.

Besides, the company has seen multiple exits over the last month or so. Last month, three of its board members – Peak VX Partners’ GV Ravishankar, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s Vivian Vu, and Prosus’ Russell Dreisenstock – tendered their resignations. As per a report, two board members of BYJU’S subsidiary Aakash Educational Services – Amit Khansaheb and Vishruta Kaul – have also tendered their resignation.

As if this was not enough, BYJU’S auditor Deloitte also resigned citing the delay by the company in filing its financial statements for FY22.

In FY21, BYJU’S reported a net loss of INR 4,588 Cr, a massive 1,880% or 19.8X jump from a loss of INR 231.69 Cr in FY20. It is yet to file its FY22 financial result.

The delay in filing the financial statements for FY22 has also come under the scanner of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, which has now ordered an inspection of BYJU’S account books.

Besides, the company has undertaken several rounds of layoffs over the last year or so, which has resulted in over 5,000 employees losing their jobs.

Recently, the Enforcement Directorate also conducted search and seizure operations at premises linked to the edtech company in connection with its probe in violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) norms.