BENGALURU: Edtech firm Byju’s tried to grow too fast and move without creating the rigour and the corporate discipline that a growth company needs, said Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Speaking at an event in Mumbai on Tuesday, he told entrepreneurs that equity is never cheap and if you are not smart at that time, and if you have not learned from your peers, or learned from folks who came before you, you will make mistakes, and I think Byju’s is that mistake.
His comments come at a time when Byju’s is struggling with multiple issues and this Friday a group of investors will discuss removing Byju Raveendran, wife Divya Gokulnath and his brother Riju Ravindran from the board. The company’s key investors include General Atlantic, Peak XV and Prosus Ventures, among others.
Earlier, upGrad’s Ronnie Screwvala had said that Byju’s founder and investors are responsible for the edtech firm’s downfall. “It is a joint accountability of the founder and 51 investors, who obviously felt that it was more important in a board meeting to ask, ‘When’s your next secondary?’ versus ‘I don’t see a CFO’ and so that one single aspect I don’t think is going to hold the whole education sector to ransom,” he had said.
Meanwhile, sources said that the company vacated a two-floor office at Prestige Tech Park in Bengaluru earlier this month. This is part of the cost-cutting measure as the company is already struggling to pay salaries to its employees.
Last year in September, the company vacated an office in Kalyani Tech Park and also vacated two floors at Prestige Tech Park.
Cost-cutting exercise
Sources said that the company vacated a two-floor office at Prestige Tech Park in Bengaluru earlier this month. This is part of the cost-cutting measure as the company is already struggling to pay salaries to its employees