BYJU’s rejigs global team as part of expansion plan as edtech space shrinks

Bengaluru: Edtech major BYJU’s on Tuesday named Krishna Vedati as President of Global Growth and Strategic Initiatives, along with rejigging top leadership at K-12 creative coding platform Tynker (which it acquired for $200 million) as part of its US expansion.

Vedati, Co-Founder and CEO of Tynker, will report to BYJU’s Co-Founder and CEO Byju Raveendran.

Srinivas Mandyam, Co-Founder and CTO of Tynker, will replace Vedati as Tynker’s CEO, and Kelvin Chong, Tynker Co-Founder and Chief Architect, now takes on the expanded role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO), the company said in a statement.

“With more than 150 million users on our personalised learning platform, it is important for us to put in place the leadership necessary to continue scaling our businesses globally,” said Raveendran.

“With exceptional experience in business and consumer user growth, and strategic brand partnerships, Krishna is ideally suited for this new role,” he added.

Vedati will serve as a senior executive for the Americas helping drive topline revenue and user growth, partnerships with major brands, and identifying strategic acquisitions.

Vedati will also expand the company’s international offering by overseeing new integrated products and services from the BYJU’S learning portfolio to students and teachers in Canada, the US, and Latin America, said the company.

Raveendran is currently focusing his energies on global operations, especially in the US, as the Indian online edtech market shrinks considerably with schools, colleges and tuition centres reopening.

The edtech unicorn made at least 10 acquisitions for a cumulative transaction value of about $2.5 billion last year.

So far, BYJU’s has raised over $6 billion in funding, with Raveendran infusing $400 million from his own pocket, during the latest $800 million funding round at a valuation of $22 billion in March.

BYJUs is also aiming to file an IPO in the US through the SPAC route.

Raveendran is out of India, meeting investors in the US and the UAE.

Sources close to the development earlier told IANS that Raveendran is all set to hand over India operations to Chief Operating Officer Mrinal Mohit.

“I am proud of the deep bench we have in our leadership ranks, enabling a seamless transition at our newest portfolio company Tynker as Srinivas and Kelvin move into their new roles,” said Raveendran.