Singapore court sentences Byju’s founder Raveendran to six months in jail

A Singapore court has sentenced Byju Raveendran, the founder of embattled education technology company Byju’s, to six months in jail for contempt, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

The court said that he had disobeyed several orders related to his assets dating back to April 2024, the news agency quoted unidentified officials as saying.

Raveendran has been directed to surrender himself to officials, pay costs of S$90,000 (around Rs 67 lakh) and provide documents proving his legal ownership of Beeaar Investco Pte, a corporate entity that held shares in a related company.

The proceedings in Singapore were initiated by a subsidiary of sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, which had invested in Byju’s during a funding round for the education technology firm as it was cutting jobs and laying off staff, Bloomberg reported.

Raveendran is also battling lenders in the United States in connection with a $1.2 billion loan. US courts had earlier held him in contempt and imposed daily sanctions for not complying with disclosure orders tied to the dispute.

In a statement after the Singapore court’s ruling, Raveendran said that the US-based lender GLAS Trust and the Qatar Investment Authority have been in advanced settlement discussions for months with other stakeholders and the founders of Byju’s.

“A settlement has been agreed in principle, with only minor residual issues left between certain parties – none involving me,” he wrote on social media. “As part of those discussions, the parties have acknowledged there is no wrongdoing on my part or by the other founders.”

He added that all parties had agreed not to actively pursue cases against each other, “and have effectively been at a standstill for the last three months while working towards a comprehensive resolution”.

“I chose resolution over confrontation,” said the Byju’s founder. “Against that backdrop, QIA’s decision to press this matter now appears to be an unnecessary pressure tactic at a sensitive stage.”

Timeline of the company

Raveendran launched educational technology firm Think & Learn Private Limited, better known as Byju’s, in 2011, which developed into a learning app that quickly became one of the best known brands across India.

In 2022, the Bengaluru-based company was valued at about $22 billion, with roughly 60,000 employees and millions of paying users. Backed by global investors, Raveendran acquired several firms, including Aakash Educational Services, WhiteHat Jr, Great Learning and Epic.

However, concerns about governance practices, delayed financial disclosures, mounting losses and aggressive expansion began surfacing in 2023, the Hindustan Times reported. The company also laid off thousands of employees amid a severe funding crunch and disputes with lenders.

In April 2023, premises linked to Byju’s and Raveendran were raided by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with alleged violations of foreign exchange laws, the newspaper reported.

At the time, the central agency had claimed that it had seized incriminating documents and data during the searches.

Byju’s also defaulted on repayments linked to a $1.2 billion term loan in the US, with lenders accusing the company and its founders of concealing funds and failing to comply with court-ordered disclosures.

In India, the company faced shareholder revolts, board resignations and insolvency proceedings, according to the Hindustan Times.

Edited by Sneha.

Also read: The unravelling of Byju’s billion-dollar empire