Singapore court sentenced Byju
Byju Raveendran, founder of edtech firm Byju’s, has been sentenced to six months in jail by a Singapore court in a contempt of court case related to the ongoing disputes over the company’s assets and disclosures, Bloomberg reported.
The order is the latest blow to the once high-flying startup, which was valued at about $22 billion at its peak before collapsing due to debt, legal disputes, governance concerns and rising employee dues.
How did Singapore’s legal battle unfold?
While the legal battle was going on in US courts, lenders pursued Byju’s in Singapore. The country emerged as another major legal front after a subsidiary of Qatar Investment Authority initiated proceedings related to investments and asset transfers linked to entities linked to Byju Raveendran.
According to a report by NDTV, the dispute stems from financing arrangements related to the acquisition of shares in Aakash Educational Services. Singapore courts subsequently demanded asset disclosures and ownership documents, concluding that Raveendran had failed to comply with several court orders issued since April 2024.
The court has now sentenced him to six months in jail on charges of contempt of court. It directed Raveendran to surrender himself and pay S$90,000 (USD 70,500), while also asking him to prove his legal ownership of Beer Investco Pte – a corporate entity that holds shares in the related company, Bloomberg reported.
How did Byju’s become India’s largest edtech startup?
Established in 2011 as Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd., Byju’s grew rapidly by offering online learning programs for school students and competitive exams. The smartphone boom and the era of online learning fueled the company’s rapid growth. The company saw explosive growth during the COVID-19 pandemic as schools shifted online.
Business boomed and the company’s valuation increased from $5 billion before the pandemic to $22 billion by 2022, during which Byju’s acquired several companies.
Global investors including Sequoia Capital, Prosus, General Atlantic and Qatar Investment Authority backed the startup. Byju’s also spent aggressively on acquisitions by buying companies like WhiteHat Junior, Aakash Educational Services, Toppr and Great Learning.
At its peak, the company became India’s most valuable startup.
What caused the decline?
The troubles began after pandemic-era growth slowed and the company struggled to manage its massive expansion.
Byju’s came under scrutiny over delays in financial filings, rising losses and cash burn. Its auditor Deloitte resigned in 2023, citing delays in financial statements, while key board members also stepped down.
Questions were also raised over the company’s accounting practices and aggressive sales tactics. Consumer complaints and criticism over education loan and refund policies further damaged its reputation.
$1.2 billion loan dispute
Byju’s $1.2 billion term loan raised in the US in 2021 was a major flashpoint.
Lenders later accused the company of hiding or improperly transferring approximately $533 million of loan proceeds. US courts passed several orders demanding disclosure of the funds and held company officials in contempt in related proceedings.
Reports also said that a US bankruptcy court ordered Raveendran to pay more than $1 billion in a default judgment related to the dispute.
Byju’s denied wrongdoing and blamed some lenders and investors for making the crisis worse.
Salary delays and layoffs
As the funding dried up, Byju’s began mass layoffs across departments and subsidiaries.
Thousands of workers complained of months of delayed or unpaid salaries. Teachers and staff spoke out publicly about the financial crisis, while many workers filed claims during bankruptcy proceedings.
The company closed or downsized several businesses while trying to cut costs.
Investor revolt and bankruptcy battle
Major investors eventually turned against the founders and accused them of mismanagement and poor governance.
In 2024, shareholders demanded the removal of Raveendran from the leadership of the company. Around the same time, insolvency proceedings were initiated against Byju’s parent company, Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, for non-payment of dues to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The edtech company had signed a major sponsorship deal with the apex cricket body in 2019 and later renewed it, but payment defaults came to light as Byju’s financial troubles deepened. The dispute eventually reached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), where insolvency proceedings were initiated against Think and Learn Pvt Ltd after BCCI claimed unpaid dues of around ₹158 crore.
The Supreme Court of India later allowed the insolvency proceedings to continue amid challenges from lenders and investors.
From startup success story to legal trouble
Byju’s was once seen as a symbol of India’s startup boom and attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment.
But rapid expansion, costly acquisitions, governance disputes, late disclosures and mounting debt drove the company into crisis within a few years. The Singapore sentence now adds to the growing legal troubles surrounding the founder and the collapsed edtech giant.
