Boom and Bust: Lessons from BYJU’s Aggressive Growth Gamble

BYJU’s, an Edtech startup, was launched in 2011. It became the most valued Edtech in the world with a peak valuation of $22 billion. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the growth of the Indian Edtech industry to an unprecedented level. To put the huge COVID shift in perspective, BYJU’s saw its registered students and paid subscribers increase almost 2.85 and 2.5 times, respectively. With more and more funding rounds and the opportunity presented by COVID-19, the unicorn looked formidable. The startup made 19 acquisitions, trying to be the one-stop solution for the Edtech Industry. Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, the startup had spent almost $2.5 billion in almost 24 months. But with everything returning to normal, the startup seemed to have lost its growth spree. The startup got tangled in a host of issues. It faced regulatory and legal issues (court cases and ED raids), brand issues (aggressive marketing tactics and employee layoffs), investor issues (valuation cuts and board directors resigning) and financial issues (auditor resigning, worrying audited numbers and tough acquisitions). Things had drastically changed for them.