Who Leads BYJU's? Unpacking the CEO's Role and Current Leadership

Think of all the faces behind the biggest names in tech—everyone knows who runs Google or Tesla. But when it comes to India’s edtech powerhouse BYJU’s, the answer gets a bit murky. 2025 has been wild for BYJU’s, full of shakeups, headlines, and drama. So, who’s steering the ship now? There’s way more to this story than just reading a line on LinkedIn.

Who is BYJU’s CEO in 2025? A Turbulent Leadership Timeline

Just a few years ago, if you asked who the CEO of BYJU’s is, you’d get a super quick answer: Byju Raveendran. The guy built the company literally from his classroom in Kerala to a multi-billion-dollar edtech beast that put Indian education on every global VC’s radar. For most of BYJU’s journey, Byju Raveendran has been the top boss—the founder, the face, even the TV ad star in the early days. Back in 2020 and 2021, BYJU’s was everywhere, bagging big acquisitions and making headlines for hiring football icons as brand ambassadors. At its peak in 2022, they said the whole thing was worth over $22 billion.

But growth at that crazy speed brought trouble too. Starting in late 2023 and really heating up in 2024, the company got tangled in financial knots—late filings, debts piling up, layoffs in the thousands, and tough questions from investors. The trust started to slip. Some of BYJU’s largest investors, including big funds from the US and the Middle East, even called for Byju Raveendran to step down. For a few tense months, nobody was sure if he’d survive as CEO.

The big twist? As of July 2025, Byju Raveendran is still officially the CEO of BYJU’s, according to the company’s filings and statements. But it’s far from business as usual. Unlike a few years ago when his word was law, the company now has an executive committee watching his moves, basically as a condition from the lenders trying to get their money back. The board is packed with investor reps, not just the old guard. Think more of a power-sharing situation, with Byju keeping the ‘CEO’ title but making way more decisions by committee. The everyday running of the company—the sackings, the sales of acquired brands, the desperate push to sell assets to survive—often comes from execs or even the board level now.

Some media reports over the last year tossed around names like Saumitra Bhave (the current CFO) or Divya Gokulnath (Byju’s wife and co-founder) as future CEO material. There were even rumors of an external hire, especially someone with a strong background in turning around failing businesses or professional management experience, which is common when founders face heat from investors. So far, though, nobody has been put in the CEO spot officially except Byju Raveendran. If you google BYJU’s CEO in July 2025, his name still pops up.

There’s a lot riding on this arrangement. If the company can’t recover or raise new funding in the next six months, most industry insiders say the leadership could flip fast. The investors have put strict ‘change-of-control’ triggers in place. For now, though, the face of BYJU’s is still Byju Raveendran, even if it doesn’t look anything like the all-powerful founder act he had at the start.

The Man Behind the Brand: Byju Raveendran’s Journey

It almost sounds like a movie. Byju Raveendran grew up in Azhikode—a quiet village in Kerala. His parents were teachers, which probably explains the education obsession. He wasn’t a traditional genius; more the guy who loved sports, math, and helping others crack tough problems. Stuff got interesting when he started teaching math to friends who struggled with MBA entrance exams. Word spread fast. Within a few years, he was filling stadiums with students.

The big leap came in 2011, when he founded Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, which everyone now knows as BYJU’s. Instead of just coaching classes, he wanted to bottle up his teaching style in an app so millions could access it. It worked. BYJU’s launched its learning app in 2015, just as smartphones started flooding Indian homes. The combination of cool tech, interactive content, and relentless marketing set them apart. The app didn’t just attract Indian students; it even found users in countries like the US, UAE, and the UK once they added new subjects and languages.

Byju’s personal brand became inseparable from the company. You’d spot him in every major ad campaign, almost like India’s version of Steve Jobs meets a cricket coach. He’s won plenty of awards, from Fortune’s 40 under 40 to the EY Entrepreneur of the Year for Emerging Entrepreneurs. And he always spoke about democratizing education, making learning fun, and leveling the playing field for kids no matter where they’re from.

The good times peaked in 2022 when BYJU’s bought big companies outside India—WhiteHat Jr, US-based Osmo, Austrian math app GeoGebra. BYJU’s even put money into coding and up-skilling products for older students, hoping to build a school-to-career pipeline. With more wins came more global attention, more investors, and even more pressure to deliver results. The expansion binge stretched resources thin, and soon, cracks started showing.

After a string of tough years (2023-2025), Raveendran got blasted in the media for alleged financial mismanagement, massive debt, and too much focus on growth over profitability. He responded with public apologies, open letters to parents, and high-profile meetings with creditors. Through it all, students and fans still see him as the genius who put Indian edtech on the map, even if critics say he lost control of his ‘baby’ as it grew. Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore his role in the story—and for now, that story lists him as BYJU's CEO.

Big Moves, Controversies, and What’s Next for BYJU’s Leadership

No other Indian startup has had a rollercoaster quite like BYJU’s. They broke all the rules: from signing Lionel Messi as a global ambassador to acquiring brand after brand across continents. The problem was, the business was burning through cash way faster than it could earn. When the pandemic end boom slowed down, BYJU’s suddenly faced angry investors, regulators sniffing around, and headlines about layoffs and delayed salaries. Anyone following business news in 2024 couldn’t miss it.

The noise around BYJU’s CEO wasn’t just about headline drama. The company faced audits for how it used funds, and big lenders like Davidson Kempner (who lent about $250 million) sent legal notices. To keep things afloat, BYJU’s fired over half its staff in two years, sold off major assets (like Epic and Great Learning), and froze new expansion. Raveendran, once the star founder, spent most of his time firefighting—restructuring debt, facing the media, and negotiating with angry investors who wanted more control.

Here are a few wild facts that don’t usually make it into the typical BYJU’s profile:

• BYJU’s highest valuation was about $22 billion in 2022, but by July 2025, several analysts estimate it’s now under $2 billion because of debt and asset sales.
• In 2024, more than 1200 employees launched a digital protest on LinkedIn over unpaid dues and changing workplace policies—one of the biggest white-collar protests in Indian startup history.
• BYJU’s once tried IPO plans in both India and the US but scrapped them due to market backlash and messy accounts. Their books were even flagged by India’s Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
• The founder took out personal loans using his stake in the company as collateral to pay back creditors when the company ran out of options.

Tons of investors think the founder effect—the idea that a startup needs its visionary founder to survive—might not help BYJU’s anymore. Activist shareholders have reportedly set October 2025 as make-or-break: if there’s no visible improvement, they’ll trigger a change at the top and possibly force an external CEO or interim turnaround specialist.

For parents and students who use the BYJU’s app, these power games seem distant—what matters to them are updated courses, reliable teachers, and fair pricing. But from a business angle, who sits in the CEO chair at BYJU’s might decide the company’s very survival. If you’re thinking about working for them, or investing in Indian edtech, it’s good to check the latest filings, read up on board announcements, and watch for signs of a possible leadership swap later in 2025.

One tip: don’t just Google ‘BYJU’s CEO’ and assume it’s all settled. Read the news, follow BYJU’s own updates, and check regulatory filings. And if you ever interview at an edtech company, it never hurts to ask—who actually makes the big decisions around here? At BYJU’s, that answer is still a little complicated.