Brought more FDI to India than any other co says Byju's CEO Raveendran
Byju’s CEO Raveendran
New Delhi: A day after Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted search and seizure operations at three premises of Byju’s CEO Raveendran and his company Think & Learn Private Limited, which runs the popular online education portal BYJU's in Bengaluru, he wrote to the employees saying that the company brought more FDI to India than any other startup and that the firm fully complies with all applicable foreign exchange laws.
Byju's is one of India's most valuable startups, with investors such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Bond Capital's Mary Meeker, General Atlantic, BlackRock and Sequoia Capital backing the company and was once valued at USD 22 billion.
Raveendran, in the memo sent to the employees late on Saturday, wrote, “As we are funded by 70+ impact investors who have satisfactorily done due diligence on our operations, including all FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) compliance, we are confident that the authorities will also come to the same conclusion.”
The ED conducted raids on Saturday on properties of Raveendran for alleged violations of the provisions of FEMA.The firm had received foreign direct investment of nearly Rs 28,000 crore between 2011 and 2023, the ED had said as reported by PTI, adding the firm remitted Rs 9,754 crore to various foreign jurisdictions during the same period in the name of overseas direct investments.
The company had sent some money overseas to fund its international acquisitions, Raveendran said in the internal memo.