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☆ CEO of India's Byju assures company's compliance after raids over alleged forex law violations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Byju Raveendran, founder and chief executive officer of Think and Learn Pvt., speaks during the Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong on March 26, 2019. Indian education platform Byju's CEO is confident that the country's financial crime-fighting agency will find the company compliant after raids on its premises over suspected breaches of foreign exchange laws, according to an internal memo. Byju's is one of India's biggest startups, once valued at $22 billion. It has attracted global investors such as General Atlantic, BlackRock and Sequoia Capital, which have invested in the company over the years. Byju's did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

☆ Byju's CEO assures company's compliance after raids over alleged forex law violations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Aditya Kalra | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

India's Enforcement Directorate raided three premises linked to the company on Saturday over alleged foreign exchange law violations. The searches revealed that Byju's parent firm Think & Learn Pvt Ltd had received foreign direct investment of nearly 280 billion rupees ($3.43 billion) between 2011 and 2023, the agency said on Saturday. The agency also said that the company remitted 97.5 billion rupees to various foreign jurisdictions between 2011 and 2023 in the name of overseas direct investments. In the internal memo, Raveendran said that the company had sent some money overseas to fund its international acquisitions. The company had taken all efforts to comply with foreign exchange laws and all cross-border transactions were routed through regular banking channels, he added.

☆ India probes education platform Byju's over forex laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 29 (Reuters) - India's financial crime-fighting agency said on Saturday it had raided three premises of billionaire Byju Raveendran, the founder and CEO of education platform Byju's, over suspected breaches of the country's foreign exchange laws. Blackrock last month cut Byju's valuation by nearly half to $11.15 billion, according to a filing seen by Reuters. Byju's legal spokesperson said the visit by ED officials to one of the company's offices in Bangalore was related to a routine inquiry under foreign exchange laws. The statement issued by the agency said the company also remitted 97.5 billion rupees to various foreign jurisdictions between 2011 and 2023 in the name of overseas direct investments. Byju's spokesperson said the company had provided authorities with all the information they requested.

☆ India probes education platform Byju's over alleged forex law violations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

April 29 (Reuters) - India's financial crime-fighting agency said on Saturday it had raided three premises linked to education platform Byju's and its billionaire CEO Byju Raveendran over suspected breaches of the country's foreign exchange laws. The searches under alleged foreign exchange law violations revealed that Think and Learn Private Limited, Byju's parent firm, had received foreign direct investment of nearly 280 billion rupees ($3.43 billion) during the period from 2011 to 2023, ED said. Byju's legal spokesperson said the visit by ED officials to one of the company's offices in Bengaluru was related to a routine inquiry under foreign exchange laws. The company reported a loss of 45.64 billion rupees ($558.49 million) in May for fiscal 2021. Byju's spent $2.5 billion in fiscal year ended March 2022 to acquire companies such as Aakash, U.S.-based Epic, kids' coding platform Tynker, professional education firm Great Learning and exam perpetration platform Toppr.

Bharadwaj, a former India managing director of Sequoia Capital who now leads venture capital firm A91 Partners. Indian VC firm Blume Ventures said in an April report consumption outside the top 30 million Indian households dropped sharply, and is driven by a "tiny superuser set". "Indian startups are not catering to a billion consumers. And only 271 Indian startups raised funding in Q1 2023, compared with 561 last year, according to CB Insights. It invested $3 billion in Indian companies in 2021 and another $500 million in 2022, by April that year, Reuters calculations show.

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☆ Indian edtech startup Unacademy to lay off 12% of staff - document
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, March 30 (Reuters) - Indian edtech startup Unacademy is laying off 12% of its workforce, citing a funding winter and pressure to turn profitable, according to an internal mail from the company's chief executive seen by Reuters on Wednesday. "Today... funding is scarce and running a profitable business is key," CEO and co-founder Gaurav Munjal said in an email sent to all staff. A spokesperson for Unacademy declined to comment on the layoffs and did not disclose the number of job cuts or the current headcount. Indian business news publication Moneycontrol reported earlier in the day that the SoftBank-backed startup laid off about 380 employees, reducing its total employee count to under 3,000. Companies that have cut staff include Tiger Global-backed Vedantu and Byju's - India's biggest startup valued at $22 billion.

☆ Indian edtech sector still attractive for investors, GSV Ventures says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( M. Sriram | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

U.S.-based GSV invests only in edtech startups around the world and manages about $500 million in assets. These are very early days for the Indian edtech market," Deborah Quazzo, managing partner at GSV, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Emeritus-GSV Leaders Summit in New Delhi on Monday. Edtech startups in India have laid off thousands of employees in the past year and have been unable to raise funding as a slowdown gripped the market. Indian edtech startups raised $2.6 billion in 2022, down 36% compared to the previous year, according to data provider Tracxn Technologies. The Indian government is also "pretty constructive" on education policies, a key factor that encourages investors like GSV to invest, she said.

☆ Byju's plans to end sponsorship of Indian cricket team jersey, as it puts profitability on cards for 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The Bangalore-based Byju's delivers online classes to students in various subjects. The co-founder added that the company will "hopefully" become profitable by the end of its financial year, which concludes in March 2024. Cricket is the biggest sport in India, a country with a population of more than 1.4 billion people. Byju's logo currently appears on the Indian cricket team's jersey. But Gokulnath told CNBC Byju's will not renew the deal after its March expiry.

☆ The 10 most active European and US investors betting on India as Asia's tech powerhouse, as it hits 100 startups worth $1 billion or more
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Funding from US and European HQ'd investors into Indian startups. 2021 was a banner year, with nearly 75% of the total funds into Indian startups coming from foreign investors. Foreign investor traction in India remains strong, said Draganov, who expects US and European venture capitalists to maintain their presence in India in the coming years. Using data from Dealroom and PitchBook, Insider profiled the most active investors that are headquartered in Europe and the US that have backed Indian startups since 2016. Based on the deal volume and size of investments into Indian startups since 2016, here are the top European and US firms investing into Indian startups, in alphabetical order.

☆ Over 150,000 tech workers have lost their jobs in 2022 with education, health, and crypto sectors among the worst affected
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Over 150,000 tech workers have lost their jobs in 2022, according to tracker site Layoffs.fyi. More than 150,000 tech workers have lost their jobs this year, according to data from tracker site Layoffs.fyi. Industries that grew rapidly during the pandemic — such as health tech, education tech, and crypto — have been the worst affected in 2022. The issue, he said, was that some investors in crypto, education tech, and health tech paid little heed to economic fundamentals. Amid recessions, B2B sub-sectors such as corporate education tech and employee coaching remain promising pockets within education tech, the investor added.

☆ Bengaluru, home to 1.5 million IT workers and called 'the world's back-office,' has dodged the tech winter ripping through Silicon Valley — but experts warn it may not last
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Matthew Loh | Britney Toh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

"Salaries hit the roof," Yeshab Giri, the chief commercial officer at Randstad India, told Insider. They see the decline more as the market returning to the brink of normalcy, and said there's still hope for laid-off tech workers — as long as they've been active in their jobs. In the same quarter, Infosys, which hires a 345,000-strong workforce, reported a $65.6 million net profit. Menon of CIEL believes demand for tech workers will pick up again in the second quarter of next year, after a "much-needed correction" in the industry. It suffered a $575 million net loss in the year ending March 2021, per Bloomberg.

☆ Amazon to shut down online learning academy in India
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said on Thursday it would shut down its online learning platform for high-school students in India less than two years of its launch, without citing a reason. The Amazon Academy platform, launched early last year amid a boom in virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, offered coaching for competitive exams including Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), which allows entry into top engineering colleges across India. Based on an assessment, the ecommerce giant said in a statement that it had made the decision to discontinue Amazon Academy "in a phased manner to take care of current customers". Other players Unacademy, Toppr, WhiteHat Jr, and Vedantu had also announced layoffs earlier this year, as per local media reports. Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Nishit Navin; Editing by Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India's Byju's to cut 2,500 staff, aims for profitability by March 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, Oct 12 (Reuters) - India's popular edu-tech startup Byju's will lay off 2,500 employees in its push towards achieving profitability by March next year, the Tiger Global-backed firm said on Wednesday. Valued at around $22 billion in September, the online learning platform had in May reported a loss of 45.64 billion rupees ($554.77 million) for fiscal 2021 due to higher promotion and employee expenses. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"We aim to ensure sustainable growth alongside strong revenue growth," Mrinal Mohit, chief executive at Byju's India business, said. Last month, Byju's paid 19 billion rupees to Blackstone Inc (BX.N), settling its dues to the private equity firm as part of a $950 million deal to buy Aakash Educational. ($1 = 82.2680 Indian rupees)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Arun KoyyurOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Byju's pays $234 mln to Blackstone related to Aakash deal -source
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Yuvraj Malik | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterSignage is seen outside The Blackstone Group headquarters in Manhattan, New York, U.S., November 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File PhotoSept 23 (Reuters) - India's Byju's has paid 19 billion rupees ($234 million) to Blackstone Inc , settling its dues owed to the private-equity firm as part of a $950 million deal to buy Aakash Educational, a source directly involved with the deal said on Friday. While closing the deal, Byju's had paid all of Aakash's shareholders, except Blackstone as the PE firm had agreed on deferred payment, the source said. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterBlackstone did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ($1 = 81.1660 Indian rupees)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'SilvaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Rights groups ask sponsors to press FIFA, Qatar on migrant worker compensation
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Workers are seen inside the Lusail stadium which is under construction for the upcoming 2022 Fifa soccer World Cup during a stadium tour in Doha, Qatar, December 20, 2019. Qatar has faced intense criticism from human rights groups over its treatment of migrant workers, who along with other foreigners comprise the bulk of the country's population. Qatari authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters about the rights groups' report. read moreMinky Worden, the director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said that sponsors should use their "considerable leverage" to apply pressure on FIFA and Qatar to fulfil their responsibilities to workers. In May, Amnesty and other rights groups had called on FIFA to earmark $440 million to compensate migrant workers in Qatar.

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