BENGALURU: Byju’s founder, Byju Raveendran, outlined plans for what he described as a major reboot of the embattled edtech company, centred around AI-powered personalised learning and a renewed focus on mission-driven education. In a wide-ranging interview on ANI’s podcast with Smita Prakash, Raveendran addressed controversies around his leadership and financial mismanagement allegations, and said the company’s next phase, “Byju’s 3.0,” is already in development.“This is my life’s work. We are building again, this time with even more clarity,” he said, adding that core members of the original team were continuing product development “in the background,” despite ongoing insolvency proceedings in India and legal challenges abroad. The founder, who was ousted as CEO by shareholders in 2024, claimed that the company is now preparing to leverage generative AI to create “one personal tutor for every student,” calling it a breakthrough that could help scale mentorship without replacing teachers.“We were doing this even before generative AI became mainstream,” he said, referring to the Learn Station device developed by Byju’s in 2021.Raveendran denied allegations of fund misuse and maintained that the $1.2 billion raised through a US term loan in 2021 was fully deployed for business growth.He blamed what he called “vulture lenders” for orchestrating a campaign to take over the company, alleging that false narratives were used to manipulate court proceedings.
