Byju’s Attracted More FDI to India Than Any Other Startup

Byju Raveendran, the founder and CEO of Byjus attracted more FDI (foreign direct investment) to India than any other Indian startup amid searches by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The startup’s founder claimed in a letter to staff that it had acquired 28,000 crore in FDI, which had allowed it to employ more than 55,000 experts. According to the CEO, this makes Byju’s India the startup sector’s largest employer.

In accordance with the rules of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched three locations owned by the creator of Byju and his business, Think & Learn Private Limited. The investigation agency claimed that various damning documents and digital material were seized during the search.

According to Raveendran, Byju’s invested over 9,000 crore throughout the years as part of its growth strategy and completed a number of acquisitions across the globe. We now have a much broader influence and reach thanks to these acquisitions. We sent some of our initial capital outside to pay for these acquisitions’, the CEO of the edtech business wrote.

In the last few years, Byju’s, once valued at $22 billion, has been on an acquisition binge. The edtech company invested $2.5 billion in the purchases of Aakash Educational Services, Epic, a company based in the United States, Tynker, a platform for young coders, Great Learning, and Toppr, a platform for test preparation.

All of our cross-border transactions have been properly reviewed by both of Byju’s expert advisors, and we have taken all necessary steps to completely comply with all applicable foreign currency legislation, he added. According to Raveendran, the company is ‘completely working’ with the authorities and all such transactions are solely handled through regular banking channels, the dealer banks that are authorised by the Reserve Bank of India, and the required paperwork and filings.

We are convinced that the authorities will reach the same decision because we are backed by more than 70 impact investors who have successfully completed their due diligence on our activities, including all FEMA compliance, he said.

Byju’s had claimed that the Enforcement Directorate’s latest visit was connected to a “routine inquiry” under FEMA. We are committed to preserving the highest norms of ethics and compliance, and we have complete faith in the dependability of our business practises. We are confident that this issue will be resolved in a prompt and satisfactory manner and will continue to work closely with the authorities to make sure they have all the information they require.