Byju's India CEO Arjun Mohan steps down, Raveendran returns to helm

Arjun Mohan, the Chief Executive Officer for India operations at Byju's, resigned from the edtech startup about six months after taking the role. This departure leaves founder Byju Raveendran to return to the helm after four years.

The company stated that Byju Raveendran will now take a more hands-on approach in spearheading the daily operations of the company, with Mohan transitioning to an external advisory role. Mohan will lend his deep edtech expertise to the company and its founders during this transformation phase.

Over the past four years, Raveendran has primarily focused on strategic aspects such as raising capital and driving global expansion. The statement from the company mentioned that with this new organizational structure and the return of Byju Raveendran as the operational leader, Byju’s is well-positioned to begin its next chapter of innovation-led growth. This includes launching at scale its new suite of AI-first products that have already received overwhelmingly positive feedback in the pilot phase.

The top-deck rejig comes at a time when the company has consolidated its operations into three focused divisions – The Learning App, Online Classes & Tuition Centres, and Test-prep. Each of these units will have separate leaders who will independently run the businesses sustainably to ensure profitability as the company continues to battle severe cash crunch issues.

Mohan took charge and led the business restructuring after the departure of its India CEO Mrinal Mohit, a founding employee, and former student of Raveendran.

Mohan had previously served as Byju's Chief Business Officer and left the firm in 2020 to join Ronnie Screwvala's upskilling unicorn upGrad as its CEO. He returned to Byju's in July to head its international business, although the company had not made an official announcement at that time.

Byju Raveendran, Founder, and Group CEO expressed his gratitude for Mohan's leadership, stating, “Arjun has done an outstanding job steering BYJU'S through a challenging period. We are grateful for his leadership and look forward to his continued contributions as a strategic advisor.”

The management reshuffle comes at a time when the embattled edtech unicorn is facing a tight liquidity situation. The firm has given up office space, explored a sale of subsidiaries, and is raising external funding, among other measures. It has also undergone multiple rounds of layoffs in the past.

One of Mohan's primary tasks was to restructure and downsize the company, leading to the elimination of 4,000 to 5,000 jobs at Byju’s. At the end of last year, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) directed the edtech company to keep funds received from the rights issue in an escrow account until the disposal of the oppression and mismanagement plea filed by four of the company's investors.

The plea was filed by Byju’s investors, including Prosus NV, Peak XV Partners, General Atlantic, and Sofina SA, who opposed the company's decision to raise $200 million at a post-money valuation of $225 million, which is 99 percent lower than the company's last funding round that occurred at a valuation of $22 billion.