BYJU’s co-founder Divya Gokulnath has copped criticism after she wrote a LinkedIn post recently in praise of her husband and the co-founder of the edtech startup, Byju Raveendran. In her post, Divya spoke about the personal struggles that Byju went through in the last six months, when his father was battling with cancer. She wrote that “Byju is the personification of courage and conviction”, and that “it has taken a lot of hard work to make learning effective and engaging”.
However, Divya’s post attracted the ire of a few, who questioned the company’s treatment of the students. One user alleged that the edtech company was manipulating parents and using children as a tool. “You just worked hard to take hard earned money from simple minded parents by either mentally and emotionally extorting them by saying your child is weak in this and won’t do well or things like that. If not that, then your sales team goes to parents saying your child is absolutely brilliant and will become successful if a course is taken from here,” he said. “I agree it is really hard work manipulating people and taking their hard earned money,” he wrote.
Another user commented that the post, despite all the sincerity, seems to be a perception build-up, and that it “feels like an effort to reshape the brand image in the reader’s psyche”. He also questioned the timing of the post in the wake of audit issues, frequent customer complaints on social media and devaluation rumours. An ex-employee of the company said the Byju’s is the “true definition of what a toxic workplace is” and added that “only money matters for the company”. “They ask us to sell the product even to people who don't need them. It's the worst place for an employee and even worser (sic) for people who buy their products,” he said.
The post comes at a time when the Bengaluru-based company has been facing close scrutiny over its accounting practices in recent months. In its delayed FY21 results, BYJU’s incurred massive losses to the tune of Rs 4,588 crore, up from just Rs 262 crore in the last fiscal. Further, its revenue from operations has been readjusted to Rs 2,280 crore which marks a significant 48% drop from the projected revenue of about Rs 4,400 crore. Filing of the company’s audited results was delayed by nearly 18 months as Deloitte’s audit arm pointed to concerns arising out of many contentious issues in the company’s accounts.
BYJU’s had delayed payments to VC (venture capital) firm Blackstone in the $1 billion acquisition of Aakash Educational Services and recently paid the remaining dues of nearly Rs 1,983 crore (over $245 million) within the extended deadline of September 23. The startup is also yet to receive $300 million from its previous round of funding from investors, Sumeru Ventures and Oxshott Capital, out of the $800 million round that the company had announced in March 2022. From May to July, the company is also believed to have laid off 2,000-2,500 employees across group companies, while the official figure is less than 500, according to Business Today.