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Bengaluru-based edtech unicorn BYJU’S has denied reports of it delaying payments to founders of Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL) and Blackstone for the AESL acquisition deal that was announced last year.
A financial publication reported that BYJU’S has asked AESL, Blackstone and other AESL shareholders for two-months extension on payments for the deal. A BYJU’S spokesperson said the acquisition process of Aakash is “fully on track and all payments are expected to be completed by the agreed upon date, that is August 2022.”
Regulatory approval
The payments are also reportedly delayed because of pending regulatory approvals on the acquisition. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) had, however, approved BYJU’S and AESL merger in 2021.
In response to BusinessLine queries, Blackstone said: “There is no truth in the story reported.” AESL spokesperson added, “No conversation as such has happened between Aakash and BYJU’S. These reports are not based on true facts.” In April 2021, BYJU’S announced the acquisition of AESL for an approximately $950-million cash and stock deal.
The BYJU’S family of brands includes Disney-BYJU’S Early Learn, BYJU’S FutureSchool, Epic, Osmo, Tynker and its flagship product BYJU’S – The Learning App. The company has a presence in more than 100 countries and offers learning programs in multiple languages.
Senior leadership changes
Earlier on Tuesday, BYJU’S announced appointment of Krishna Vedatias the President of Global Growth and Strategic Initiatives. Vedanti is the co-founder of K-12 creative coding platform Tynker, which was acquired by BYJU’S in September 2021.
In his new role, Vedati will report to BYJU’S co-founder and CEO Byju Raveendran and will join the company’s executive committee. He 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 work on expanding 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.
“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. With exceptional experience in business and consumer user growth, and strategic brand partnerships, Krishna is ideally suited for this new role,” said Byju Raveendran.
Srinivas Mandyam, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer 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.
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