Serial entrepreneur and investor, Ronnie Screwvala has out the blame of edtech major BYJU’s downtun at the feet of Byju Raveendran, founder and chief executive officer and 51 other investors. Screwvala said they are responsible for the downturn of the crisis-hit edtech company.
“They (investors) felt that it was more important in board meetings to ask when’s your next secondary versus ‘I don’t see a CFO’ and so that one single aspect I don’t think is going to hold the whole education sector to ransom,” said Screwvala, while speaking at the second edition of the ASU+GSV & Emeritus Summit in Gurugram.
Screwvala added that “one rotten apple” in Indian edtech should not affect the entire sector.
Screwvala’s comments come ahead of a meeting he had with edtech founders in Delhi to discuss issues pertaining to the edtech sector, which is witnessing a drop in investments and the fall of the most-valued edtech company – Byju’s.
Learning startup upGrad has been one of the critics of Byju’s, when it navigated a series of crises in the last couple of years.
On February 1, Screwvala took to X where he supported the decision of Byju’s major shareholders to call for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to oust the current management and reconstitute the board.
Finally 🤦♂️ someone smelt the coffee!!
Hope its not a whiff and then whimper but they will stay the course and get this done – for the whole eco system ! For india as an investment destination ! For just credibility overall of an otherwise sunrise and sunshine sector https://t.co/PkgtI7dONp
— Ronnie Screwvala (@RonnieScrewvala) February 1, 2024
Byju’s investors include General Atlantic, Sofina, Peak XV Partners and Prosus.
“You need to be an active board member, you need to ask the right questions. Why would anyone stop asking questions after they put in $100 million to $4 billion? You have the right to do that. In those exact companies, if people had asked questions, they’re now beginning to ask, four years back – it could have been a very different story. It may not have even raised 4 billion, it did,” added Screwvala.
He also said that investors and board members now need to exercise their fiduciary responsibility, ask the right questions and protect their investments.
Read More: Education is purely based on ROI and very strongly outcome-led: upGrad’s Mayank Kumar