Byju’s overhaul: Mohandas Pai, former SBI chairman to join advisory council
Beleaguered edtech startup Byju’s seems to be in serious course-correction mode. News agencies have reported that while former CFO and Board Member at Infosys, Mohandas Pai, and former SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar will join its advisory council, upGrad’s former chief Arjun Mohan will join it as the CEO for international business.
Byju Raveendran will remain the group CEO and Mrinal Mohit will continue to head the India business, PTI quoted sources as saying. These developments come weeks after resignations by the company’s auditor and investor representatives amid governance concerns.
The advisers
The advisory council will reportedly mentor the Byju’s board and Raveendran on crucial matters, the company told news agency Reuters on Thursday (July 13). “As part of the advisory council, I look forward to advising the leadership in evolving the systems of governance and financial reporting,” Reuters quoted Pai, who was an early investor on Byju’s, as saying.
Mohan, on the other hand, was with Byju’s for 11 years as its Chief Business Officer before joining the Ronnie Screwvala-promoted upGrad as its India CEO. He resigned from upGrad in December last year.
Also read: News View: Byju’s panel to advise CEO; why MNCs are gung-ho on India, and more
Byju’s operates in the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, the UK, Brazil, and the Middle East, with users in about 100 countries, according to the company website. It owns US-based reading platform Epic and coding site Tynker, acquired for USD 500 million and USD 200 million, respectively.
Other overseas acquisitions of Byju’s include Singapore-based Great Learning for around USD 600 million and Austria’s mathematics operator GeoGebra for USD 100 million.
Troubled times
The Bengaluru-headquartered edtech company recently saw the resignation of three board members — GV Ravishankar, MD of early-backer Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India), Russell Dreisenstock of Prosus, and Chan Zuckerberg’s Vivian Wu.
Raveendran, during a shareholders’ call, acknowledged the resignations but said the company had not accepted them yet, and information about their resignation was leaked prematurely.
Also read: Byju’s may need a management overhaul to rescue itself
Byju’s laid off about 1,000 employees in June as part of its restructuring process, at a time when the company got involved in a legal battle with lenders in the US for USD 1-billion term loan B. The company’s auditor, Deloitte Haskins and Sells, also resigned over delays in a new Chief Financial Officer taking charge.
In April, the company faced searches by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at its three premises in Bengaluru.
(With agency inputs)
