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<ul class="summary-list"><li>BlackRock has written off its investment in once-hot Indian tech company Byju.</li><li>The Indian education tech giant is facing legal and financial troubles.</li></ul>In another blow to education tech giant Byju's, investor BlackRock says its stake in the once-hot company is worth nothing.In 2022, the education tech company said it raised $800 million at a $22 billion valuation.BlackRock was the first investor to publicly signal the company's troubles. In a first-quarter summary for some of its funds, the asset manager valued its stake in Byju's at $0, a number that has not been previously reported. In October, BlackRock slashed its valuation of the startup to less than $1 billion, <a target="_blank" href="https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/11/blackrock-cuts-byjus-valuation-by-95-to-1-billion/">TechCrunch reported.</a>BlackRock invested in Byju's parent Think &amp; Learn through <a target="_blank" href="https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual/literature/first-quarter-report/fqr-retail-blackrock-science-and-technology-trust.pdf">various</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual/literature/investor-education/bcat-commentary.pdf">funds</a>, all of which appear to have written off the investment in recent filings.HSBC, which is not an investor in Byju's, said in a recent research note that Dutch tech investor Prosus' stake in Byju was worth nothing. Prosus owns nearly 10% of the company and invested about $500 million in Byju's."We assign zero value to Byju's stake amid multiple legal cases and funding crunch. Previously, we valued ~10% stake in Byju's by applying 80% discount to the latest publicly disclosed valuation," the HSBC analyst wrote.The Bengaluru-based company is facing significant turmoil.Earlier this week, a group of lenders asked a US court to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against Byju's subsidiaries <a target="_blank" href="https://www.business-standard.com/technology/tech-news/byju-s-now-worth-zero-hsbc-warns-prosus-amid-legal-financial-troubles-124060700146_1.html">over a $1.2 billion loan.</a> The company also <a target="_blank" href="https://inc42.com/buzz/byjus-slashes-salaries-for-new-sales-hires-by-more-than-90/">cut the salaries</a> of new sales hires by 90% in an attempt to cut costs, local outlet Inc42 <a target="_blank" href="https://inc42.com/buzz/byjus-slashes-salaries-for-new-sales-hires-by-more-than-90/">reported</a> on Thursday.Byju's investors, including Prosus, are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.business-standard.com/companies/news/byju-s-egm-shareholders-vote-to-remove-ceo-raveendran-and-his-family-124022300919_1.html">seeking the removal of its CEO</a>, Byju Raveendran, and his family members from the board. The company's India CEO left in April, and it missed filing its 2023 financial reports.The digital and physical tutoring company was seen as a star in the Indian startup scene and even sponsored the Indian cricket team until 2023. It is backed by the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia Capital, and Tencent, among others.Byju's first gained popularity during the pandemic for its unique approach to learning. The company faced challenges in 2022 after students began returning to schools and expensive acquisitions affected its bottom line.The company planned to<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-26/star-founder-broke-down-in-tears-as-crises-engulfed-byju-s"> go public through a SPAC deal</a> in 2022, which did not ultimately pan out.Byju's and BlackRock did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that HSBC wrote about an investor's interest in Byju's. HSBC did not invest in Byju's.

India's once-hot startup Byju's was valued at $22 billion. Now, BlackRock says its investment is worth nothing.

<ul><li><keyword id="1702989" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Byju-Raveendran">Byju Raveendran</keyword>, 37, is one of the youngest billionaires in India with a net worth of $1.7 billion. </li><li>Byju’s, which made its content available for free during the coronavirus, saw an immediate 3x increase in the number of users. </li><li>The edtech startup is in talk to raise as much as $400 million fresh capital. </li></ul>Byju’s is one of the rare Indian unicorns that will continue to bring in revenue, even during the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, it has the pandemic to thank for a massive boost in numbers. In 2019, the founder Byju Raveendran became one of India’s youngest billionaires with a net worth of $1.7 billion, according to Forbes. And now, as the startup eyes a $10 billion valuation, 37-year old Raveendran’s net worth is set to see a jump for his 21% stake in the company. Investors are betting big on Byju’s as the startup continues to see a meteoric rise. Byju’s, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/byjus-adds-6-million-new-students-in-a-month-after-the-nation-goes-into-a-complete-lockdown/articleshow/75009408.cms">which offered its content for free to students</a>, during the lockdown period, saw an immediate 3X increase in the number of users. As many as six million new students joined the platform in March alone. Byju’s app and website have witnessed a 150% increase in traffic in March. I<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/the-funding-chart-of-byjus-the-startup-that-gave-mark-zuckerberg-a-7x-return-on-investment-and-is-worth-8-billion/articleshow/74132786.cms">t is the third most valued unicorn in India</a> with over 50 million students using its platform. The latest round of $200 million funding from New York-based Tiger Global Management valued Byju’s at $8.2 billion. Road to $10 billion Byju’s is getting ready to enter the decacorn club — a startup with $10 billion or more valuation— which currently houses only Paytm and Oyo. If the fresh rounds of funding comes through, there will be a 20% increase in its current valuation. It will then become the second most valuable startup in the country after Paytm. According to <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/01/indian-education-startup-byjus-is-fundraising-at-a-10b-valuation/">TechCrunch</a>, Byju’s is in talks to raise as much as $400 million. It has raised more than $1.3 billion till date from investors including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. While some may question that Byju’s will not be able to retain its users after lockdown ends, Raveendran is optimistic. He says Byju’s might earn <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/business/video/india-today-e-conclave-paytm-oyo-and-byju-heads-brainstorm-tips-to-survive-the-pandemic-1675139-2020-05-06">as much revenue as</a> it earned in pre-covid time. “Since we have good fundamentals we will continue to attract investors not just from China but from all over the world. Last year, close to $11 billion flowed into Indian start-ups. Maybe 6-12 months down the line you will see investors come in. The Indian ecosystem is maturing fast,” <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/business/story/e-conclave-brainstorm-paytm-oyo-and-byju-chiefs-on-how-start-ups-will-survive-covid-19-1675103-2020-05-06">Raveendran told India Today in a panel discussion. </a> The billionaire guru It was only a decade back, when Raveendran aced the Common Admission Test (CAT) with 100 percentile and decided to ditch his 2-year old career to open an ed tech. He wanted to become the founder of ‘<a href="https://www.rediff.com/business/interview/how-byju-built-the-worlds-highest-valued-edtech-company/20190116.htm">largest education company in the world</a>’ — a dream that might become true if things go as is. There were hardly any learning apps available when Byju’s started its operation and now it rules the online education market. Within three years into business, Byju's tripled its revenue to ₹1,430 crore in the financial year 2018-19 and also turned profitable on a full-year basis. It was also one of the handful startups to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/byjus-vs-oyo-vs-swiggy-profit-and-loss-in-2019/articleshow/72864443.cms">report a profit of ₹20 crore in FY19</a>. It also cut down its losses by over 76% to ₹8.8 crore from ₹37.1 crore in FY18. And now, the edtech founder is only greedy for more. As India accepts the ‘new normal’ of online education, Raveendran, believes the growth that has not happened in years is going to happen in months. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/14-indian-edtech-startups-raised-funds-amid-the-covid-19-pandemic/articleshow/75667869.cms">14 Indian edtech startups raised funds amid the COVID-19 pandemic⁠</a>

Byju Raveendran – one of India’s youngest billionaires may only get richer even during the coronavirus lockdown

<ul><li>The Bengaluru-based edtech startup says that the capital invested in its business will result in profitability.</li><li>The edtech giant is targeting profitability by March 2023.</li><li>It has put together a plan to reduce its marketing and operating costs in order to turn in a profit.</li></ul>Indian edtech decacorn BYJU'S on Monday announced a new fundraise of $250 million from its existing investors. The Bengaluru-based startup says that the capital invested in its business will result in profitability. It’s currently a loss-making company. “BYJU’S is now at that sweet spot of its growth story where the unit economics and the economies of scale both are in its favour. This means the capital that we now invest in our business will result in profitable growth and create sustainable social impact,” said Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO of BYJU’S. The edtech giant is targeting profitability by March 2023. It has put together a plan to reduce its marketing and operating costs in order to turn in a profit. As a result, 5% of its workforce, or roughly 2,500 workers, will be let go in the following six months, it announced last week. This move, the company said, is a way to avoid redundancies in job roles. As per the audited FY21 financials that it released last month after an 18-month delay, its losses widened by 20 times to ₹4,589 crore. The company however says that FY23 will be the best year for its financial growth. “Regardless of the adverse macroeconomic conditions, 2022-23 is set to be our best year in terms of revenue, growth and profitability. Continued support from our esteemed investors re-affirms the impact created by us so far, and validates our path to profitability,” said Raveendran. Further, the BYJU’s says that it has embarked on a path to achieve group-level profitability by March 2023 with a three-pronged approach. One is by consolidating all its K10 India subsidiaries, retargeting marketing budget towards its overseas markets and lastly increasing the strength of its inside sales team. The other companies it has acquired – Aakash Education and Great Learning, which are respectively into test-prep and upskilling, will continue to operate as stand-alone independent units. Today, there are more than 250 active BYJU’S tuition centres across India and the company aims to scale it up to 500 centres by the end of this financial year. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/tracxn-technologies-ipo-heres-how-you-can-check-the-allotment-status/articleshow/94915149.cms">Tracxn Technologies IPO: Here’s how you can check the allotment status</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/avenue-supermarts-shares-fall-after-the-retail-chain-reports-a-decline-in-margins-in-q2/articleshow/94912781.cms">DMart shares fall over margin decline and slow recovery in footfalls</a>

Edtech decacorn Byju’s raises $250 million from existing investors

<ul><li><keyword id="3123019" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Byjus">Byju’s</keyword> had acquired <keyword id="8080458" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="WhiteHat-Jr">WhiteHat Jr</keyword> for $300 million in August 2020, and folded it into its Byju’s Future School banner.</li><li><keyword id="327937" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Karan-Bajaj">Karan Bajaj</keyword> was also leading Byju’s Future School, one of the main elements of Byju’s international expansion.</li><li>Byju’s Head of Customer Experience and Delivery, Trupti Mukker, would now lead Byju’s Future School and WhiteHat Jr.</li></ul>Karan Bajaj, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of coding-for-kids startup WhiteHat Jr, has announced his exit from the three-year-old edtech startup. The development comes exactly a year after WhiteHat Jr was acquired by world’s highest valued edtech giant Byju’s in August 2020. <div type="ExtQuote" text="“Under Karan’s leadership, WhiteHat Jr and BYJU’S FutureSchool now enable hundreds of thousands of students in countries around the world daily to learn and create with 11,000+ deeply committed teachers. ... Having more than exceeded all our mutually outlined goals for the 1st year, Karan is now ready, as we had mutually decided at the time of acquisition, to progress to the next chapter of his life.”" auname="— Byju’s CEO and founder Byju Raveendra announced, in an internal email."></div> Bajaj’s exit may come as a surprise as he was also leading Byju’s Future School — one of the main elements of Byju’s international expansion plans — since earlier this year. Byju’s Future School had folded WhiteHat Jr under its banner to provide extra-curricular courses like coding, maths, music and more in international markets such as the USA, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Brazil and Mexico. <div type="image" title="WhiteHat Jr’s founder Karan Bajaj quits exactly a year after Byju’s acquired the company" msid="85031150" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Karan Bajaj announces his exit on LinkedIn&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Karan Bajaj, former Discover Network CEO, had founded WhiteHat Jr in 2018. The company started off as a platform that solely focused on live online one-on-one coding classes for kids in preschool to middle school. It was bought by Byju’s for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/how-karan-bajaj-sold-his-less-than-18-month-old-startup-white-hat-jr-to-byjus/articleshow/77415329.cms">$300 Mn</a>. The platform has over 11,000 teachers. Byju’s Head of Customer Experience and Delivery,Trupti Mukker, would now lead Byju’s Future School and WhiteHat Jr, the global edtech giant Byju Raveendran said, in an internal email. <div type="image" title="WhiteHat Jr’s founder Karan Bajaj quits exactly a year after Byju’s acquired the company" msid="85031355" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Byju Raveendran&amp;#39;s announces Karan Bajaj&amp;#39;s departure in an internal email&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> WhiteHat Jr recently announced a partnership with 500 schools across India, which would add 1.25 Lakh students to its bucket. The last one year has been extremely controversial for the WhiteHat Jr. First, it was the allegations of misleading ads that got a lot of criticism of coding-for-kids startups. Even Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) had<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/brands/news/byjus-white-hat-jr-to-withdraw-its-social-ads-for-making-misleading-claims/articleshow/78916793.cms"> pulled up</a> the company to remove these ads for making dubious and unsubstantiated claims. Second, it was allegations of silencing all critics on social media though with content removal or abuse. Third was the infamous defamation cases against two critics — software engineer<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/white-hat-jr-gets-a-partial-gag-order-against-pradeep-poonia-who-now-has-to-defend-a-hacking-charge-as-well/articleshow/79365073.cms"> Pradeep Poonia</a> and angel investor Aniruddha Malpani. Interestly, Malpani was also banned from Linkedin in 2020 for allegedly criticizing Byju’s and its business model. The case against Poonia was <a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/whitehat-jr-drops-defamation-suit-against-pradeep-poonia/">dropped </a>in April this year. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/tiger-global-pumps-enough-money-to-make-bharatpe-a-unicorn-about-a-month-after-it-got-a-banking-licence-with-centrum-as-its-partner/articleshow/85027918.cms">Tiger Global pumps enough money to make BharatPe a unicorn about a month after it got a banking licence with Centrum as its partner</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/adani-ports-shows-a-record-quarterly-volume-growth-while-the-shares-have-already-run-up-over-7-in-last-5-days/articleshow/85005554.cms">Adani Ports shows a record quarterly volume growth while the shares have already run up over 7% in last 5 days </a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/heres-why-nifty-broke-the-16000-barrier/articleshow/85004061.cms">Here’s why Nifty broke the 16,000 barrier ⁠— Titan, HDFC, Nestle and Ultratech tell the story of the euphoria in the Indian stock market</a>

WhiteHat Jr’s CEO Karan Bajaj quits exactly a year after Byju’s acquired the company

<keyword id="2900267" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Byju">Byju</keyword> opens up about meeting <keyword id="3435310" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="chan-zuckerberg">Chan Zuckerberg</keyword> Initiative, international plans and how he chooses teachers for the app. 
 <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword> caught up with <keyword id="1702989" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Byju-Raveendran">Byju Raveendran</keyword> after <keyword id="6354630" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mark-Zuckerberg">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword> shared a post on <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword> announcing Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s investment in the ed-tech <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Two-VCs-just-told-us-how-tech-startups-create-economic-inequality/articleshow/52154466.cms">startup</a>. 
 
Q1. Congratulations on the latest round of $50 million! The valuation has been reported at about Rs.3, 200 crores. Would you like to share the details with us? 
 Byju- Thank you. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife <keyword id="3634898" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Priscilla-Chan">Priscilla Chan</keyword>) has co-led the investment round with <keyword id="122716" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sequoia-Capital">Sequoia Capital</keyword>, along with Sofina, Lightspeed Ventures and Times Internet Ltd. We would like to not comment on the valuation. 
 
Q2. You must be excited about this investment. How do you think this will affect your brand and business? 
 
Byju- It is very humbling to see such confidence from our investors. In fact, to be the first company in Asia to be backed by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan is very encouraging. 
 
We have been continuously working towards developing world class products which will cater to students with every educational requirement in K-12 (primary and secondary education) segment. 
 
Q3.Did you get a chance to interact with the power couple- <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/For-some-teens-Facebook-is-little-more-than-a-business-tool/articleshow/54202713.cms">Mark Zuckerberg </a>and Priscilla Chan? 
 
Byju- After our last investment round in March, I met with the Chan Zuckerberg foundation in San Francisco, California. An investment head from Chan Zuckerberg initiative came in to finalize the details of the deal, which was closed in four-five weeks since I met them. 
They were personally excited about our story and our impact in the Indian metros. Both of them understand technology and they are very excited by our offering as we are creating a product that is technologically driven to enable better learning while reaching more and more people. The Smartphone is giving us the kind of reach that, a few years ago, we wouldn’t even have dreamt of. 
They’re not just coming on board as an investor but are also taking a board seat. 
Vivian Wu from the Chan Zuckerberg initiative will be joining us on the company board after this round. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Chan-Zuckerberg-Initiatives-first-Asian-investment-Byjus-founder/articleshow/54245860.cms">ALSO READ: Behind </a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Chan-Zuckerberg-Initiatives-first-Asian-investment-Byjus-founder/articleshow/54245860.cms">Chan Zuckerberg</a><a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Chan-Zuckerberg-Initiatives-first-Asian-investment-Byjus-founder/articleshow/54245860.cms"> Initiative's first Asian investment- Inspiring story of Byju's founder</a> 
 
Q4. The app wants to reach out to kids as young as 9 years old in the 4th standard.Why is that? 
 
Byju- Education has a big impact on your future especially for us Indians. It’s our biggest bet. 4th- 5th grade is the starting of your formative years in education. It is the time when you can really feel the subject, realize what you’re good at. It is the best time to reach out to students. 
 
Q5. How do you choose your army, in this case, the teachers on your platform? Do you see Byju as a substitute to traditional school systems? 
 
Byju- We look for a good teacher who is passionate about the subject and has a great connect with the students. It is important to motivate students to learn, not rote learn and we ensure that teachers do that in a friendly matter. Just 10% of our content team gets selected for teaching. All the teachers on board are as good as me or even better at what they do. 
Byju’s app focuses on comprehensive learning which is personalized for students. We don’t want to be a substitute to schools, but the app works well with the current system. 
Our courses cover everything in the curriculum and students can depend on us for extensive learning. On an average, a student spends 40 minutes on our app, which is unlike any similar app in the world. 
 
Q6. We would like to know more about how you will utilize this investment. Which are the markets that you will be targeting? 
​ 
Our focus is going to be on our product offerings. We will add more subjects and grades. We will create region-specific products for other big English-speaking markets like U.S.A and the UK. Change the format, team, and gaming technology with each market. We are already present internationally- 15% of our students are not Indians. The Middle East is a majority of that. 
 
We aren’t looking for any more investment currently but all our investment rounds have been borne out of inbound interest.

Byju opens up about meeting Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, international plans and how he chooses teachers for the app

<ul><li>Since the beginning, BYJU’S secret has been to focus on engagement and effectiveness. It has made learning fun for students by adding videos, interactive media, and gamification on its platform.</li><li>It all started when Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO, identified a gap between how the concepts are learned and how it should be learned by students in India. </li><li>BYJU’S plan now is to ‘expand to international markets, achieve scale and build a global brand while simultaneously working on creating learning programs in regional languages to provide access to quality content and teachers to the students even in the remotest parts of the country.’ </li><li>Mrinal Mohit, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Sales and Marketing, BYJU’S shares his vision for making the platform an industry leader, content marketing mantra, and revenue goals for the year. </li></ul>For a relatively non-existent segment that started shaping up a decade ago, BYJU’S has come a long way in a short span of time. India has around 3500 edtech startups and BJYU’S has an edge for it is the fourth-highest valued company -- placed at $5.7 billion. BYJU’S added 40 million registered users onto its platform and 2.8 million paid subscribers this year; nearly doubling from 1.26 million in June 2018. It also became profitable in 2018 – cut down its losses by over 76% to ₹8.8 crore from ₹37.1 crore. It is now eyeing to be a ₹3000 crore brand by end of the fiscal year. It is all set to become the leader of edtech industry. The company plans to do so by adding more regional languages, spreading awareness around its platform with omni-channel approach, and deeper penetration across India. Mrinal Mohit, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Sales and Marketing, BYJU’S – The Learning App shares the secret of achieving fame so soon, advantages of tying up with cricket tournaments, developing a brand from scratch on the back of strong marketing tools, leveraging the strength of population by going deeper in markets, revenue goals, and much more. Excerpts: How has the year been so far for BYJU’S? Earlier in the year you announced that you had become profitable, a first in the consumer internet start-up space. What helped you achieve this, which is no mean feat? At BYJU’S, we understood the challenges the ecosystem faces and one of the key challenges we could address immediately and effectively is the method with which students consume knowledge and information. We began the journey with conviction and understood the potential to bring in transformational change with respect to the format for interaction and learning. The core challenges traditional education formats face are (a) good teachers are hard to find at scale (b) ability for personalization is limited (c) format of learning (rote memorization vs. wanting to learn). Our approach from a content creation perspective has always been to focus on engagement and effectiveness i.e., if it will be useful to students and it will be used by students. We approach subjects by first identifying concepts and curriculum that need to be covered and then identifying the best mode to teach these concepts be it through video, gamification or interactive media. With over 40m downloads, 2.8m paid users, and average engagement time ~ 71 minutes, our approach, both in terms of engagement and effectiveness, has been received positively by students, parents and education providers which is helping propel our growth. We have been fortunate to reach scale relatively quickly due to our student and learning-focused approach and are increasing year-on-year which is helping us achieve progressively higher earnings, enabling us to invest more organically in improving engagement and effectiveness in the product. There is no real playbook for success here and our approach has been based on first principles, especially since this was a relatively non-existent segment a couple of years ago. Everything we learnt was first hand – from business model tinkering, expansion, to raising funds. BYJU’S has been aggressively marketing itself in the recent past, be it the advertising during this year’s world cup or replacing Oppo to find a place on the jerseys of Indian players. As a learning company, we have always recognised the critical role that sports play in a child's development. They teach you unmatched life-skills and crucial lessons like teamwork and collaboration. Cricket is the heartbeat of India and as a platform, gives us unmatched reach to even the deepest parts of the country. Our focus is to go deeper into India and make better learning experiences accessible to students who need it the most. We are thrilled about being the jersey sponsors of the Indian Cricket Team. Just as cricket inspires a billion budding dreams across India, we too as a learning company hope to inspire the love of learning in every child's heart. What kind of investments are you keeping aside for marketing this year? Your FY18 advertising spends was up 77% at Rs 188.5 crore. What kind of money did you spend in the current financial year? What was the percentage increase? During our campaigns around cricket matches, we have noticed a big spike in the number of downloads we see. In fact, our last set of advertisements with Shah Rukh Khan received the highest recall among celebrity endorsements during the 2019 ICC World Cup Cricket, according to a survey by the Indian Institute of Human Brands (IIHB). Our daily organic downloads are close to 50,000-60,000 and the marketing expenditure has gone up over the year, on the back of an increase in revenue. However, the cost of customer acquisition has dropped to 25%. For digital, we use a combination of channels including display, banner besides advertising on YouTube. Additionally, we also use TV, print and outdoor. What role has advertising played in cementing a place in the hearts and minds of Indian consumers? Our advertisements celebrate the power of visual learning and is aimed at helping our end users understand how it could be beneficial for them. TV has helped us reach out to our primary and secondary customers - i.e.; children and their parents, across geographies. Advertising on TV has primarily helped us with customer acquisition, i.e. increased downloads, while we have specifically used print medium to explain the how and the why of the app to our target audience. From the very beginning, we were able to measure the ROI from our ad campaigns, through downloads, subscriptions, etc. Our campaigns were based solely on where the product stood at a certain time and if it made sense for us to scale up or reach out to a wider audience then. We are very paranoid about the performance of an ad; if we see it performing well, we are ready to invest. There is a direct link in how downloads spike with ad campaign releases. With regards to mediums, we have seen that TV when used simultaneously with social media amplifies our ROI. Hence, we also share timely and relevant communication across our social media handles to reach out to a large set of audience and create awareness about our brand offerings. Considering you had taken on Shah Rukh Khan as an ambassador pretty early on in your journey. You also roped in actor Mahesh Babu to target Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. How did this help in winning your consumer’s trust? It was great to have Mahesh Babu and Mohanlal associate with us and spread the message that conceptual and life-long learning is far superior to learning by rote. We believe that every region, especially in South India, is really unique and it is crucial that we customize our message to truly gain mindshare here. Both the ad campaigns highlighted evolving learning habits of students and celebrated the long-term benefits of conceptual understanding. Our TVCs were specially targeted at the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and Kerala respectively to connect with parents and help them understand real, tangible benefits of technology powered learning. The core objective of our TVCs was to address the apprehension among parents and show them the real advantage of learning through a product like the BYJU’S Learning App. Mahesh Babu and Mohanlal’s immense popularity and credibility amongst parents and children in the respective regions made them a perfect fit for our brand. What kind of uptake has BYJU’S been seeing among parents and children? Can you share some user figures with us, and where do you aim to take this number to, in the next few years? Today we have over 40 million registered users and 2.8 million paid subscribers; nearly doubling from 1.26 million in June 2018. The average number of minutes a student spends on the app has increased from 64 minutes to 71 minutes everyday from across 1700+ towns/cities. More than 60% of our students are from outside the top 10 cities. But there is still a long way to go before we call this a learning revolution. India today has the largest K-12 education system in the world, with around 300 million school going population. Going forward, there will be a strong focus to further accelerate our reach and create awareness about digital learning in deeper parts of India. This is one segment where the real fun is not in creating a billion dollar company, but in creating a billion thinkers and learners. When you launched the platform, what was your vision? How has that vision evolved over the years? What BYJU’S stands for now for you and what is the BYJU’S of the future? The main idea behind starting BYJU’S was to make learning accessible, effective, engaging and personalized for everyone. We noticed that there was a huge gap in the way students learn and how concepts should be learnt. In a traditional, face to face learning set up, access to high-quality education and personalization of learning has always been an issue. In our system, children are still getting trained to solve questions and not ask questions. Learning happens because of fear of exams, and not for the love for learning. Students memorize and forget after exams. The need of the hour is for a product that brings the childlike curiosity back in students and makes them look forward to learning something new everyday. When we launched, learning was not actively taking place through digital media, even though children were browsing on the internet and watching videos online. This medium was not viewed as a reliable learning source. We have managed to change that and have created and established the ‘app learning’ segment. Our vision is to now be viewed as not just a ‘digital learning’ medium but the leaders of the ‘learning at home’ segment. By 2020, we would like to transform into a learning at home platform. Everything a student needs to learn at home, BYJU’s will be able to provide that. You are looking at expanding to international waters now. Can you throw some light on your strategy to navigate these markets? When can we expect you to launch and are there markets other than the US and the UK that you are considering currently? We are in the process of building a product for international markets. Our recent acquisition of Osmo, the US-based award-winning playful learning system, is also aimed at bolstering our international plans to innovate, explore and set new benchmarks for tech-enabled personalized learning solutions. Currently, there are no products like the BYJU’S learning app which can reach out to such a large number of students and create great engagement at the same time. We strongly believe that such a product can come out of India. The market opportunity is huge and we believe our product can create the kind of engagement one has never seen before What kind of growth have you been witnessing? What kind of growth do you hope to achieve this year and what are the factors that will help you achieve it? In terms of revenue, the company has been growing at 100% year-on-year for the last 3 years and have tripled our revenue to INR 1430 crore in FY 18-19 and also turned profitable on a full year basis. We are estimating a revenue of over INR 3000 crore this year. Today we have over 40 million registered users and 2.8 million paid subscribers. Our numbers and growth over the past few years speak for themselves. Where will the next phase of growth for BYJU’S come from? While our focus is to expand to international markets to help achieve scale and build a global brand, we are also working on creating learning programs in regional languages to provide access to quality content and teachers to the students even in the remotest parts of the country. We have also launched language switch option in Hindi, that will not only help in on boarding the platform but also help gain a better foothold in English. Going forward, there will be a strong focus to further accelerate our reach and create awareness in deeper parts of India. We are also working on creating learning programs in other regional languages. The availability of BYJU’S learning programs in multiple vernacular languages will make quality learning accessible for children in every nook and corner of the country and fulfill their aspirations of building better lives. Tell us a bit about your partnership with Disney and what more can we expect out to this partnership? Can we expect some more similar partnerships with other global players too? The Disney.BYJU’S Early Learn app is specially crafted for young children aged between 6 to 8 years old (classes 1- 3) in India. This app offers personalized learning programs while entertaining them with Disney’s timeless stories and characters from Disney Princess, Frozen, Cars, Toy Story franchises and more. BYJU’S pedagogy and content expertise are enhanced by the compelling storytelling of Disney in this app and provides a strong head start to the way young children learn their first concepts in India. The Disney. BYJU’S Early Learn App offers a first-of-its-kind integration of offline to online learning experience through BYJU’S acquired Osmo platform. Where do you want to see Byju’s three to five years from now? Our vision is to be one of the largest education brands in the world. While starting a mission company is easy, sustaining a mission-led organization is challenging. The market needs standardized education and new methodologies/formats to be introduced so as to engage students. To move from the traditional classroom system where teaching is one-way traffic to the one where teachers are facilitators of learning and also, mentors for discussions in classrooms is essential. At BYJU’S, we have made small strides in this direction and with increased traction we believe this is possible in the near future.

BYJU’S envisions to become the leader of ‘learning at home’ category; targets ₹3000 crores revenue this year

Today is a day that <keyword id="2900267" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Byju">Byju</keyword> Raveendran, Founder and CEO, Byju’s will never forget, a feat because of how he approaches teaching and life. 
 
Byju’s is India’s largest Ed-tech company and its learning app has not just inspired more than 2,50,000 student subscribers, but also<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/10-years-ago-FB-had-the-most-inglorious-launch-moment-in-history160but-it-changed-everything/articleshow/54039367.cms"> Facebook</a> founder <keyword id="6354630" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mark-Zuckerberg">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword> and his wife <keyword id="3634898" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Priscilla-Chan">Priscilla Chan</keyword>, who have led the investment of $50million in this app, in the latest round through the <keyword id="3157621" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="chan-zuckerberg-initiative">Chan Zuckerberg Initiative</keyword>. Mark announced the investment some hours back, instantly making Byju’s one of the most popular teaching apps in the world. 
 
Byju describes himself as a ‘teacher by choice, entrepreneur by chance.’ Business Insider spoke to Byju to find out what turned him into the phenomenal teacher he is. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Mark-Zuckerberg-leads-50-million-investment-in-Indian-education-startup/articleshow/54202329.cms">ALSO READ: Mark Zuckerberg leads $50 million investment in Indian education startup</a> 
 Byju had a very humble beginning. He started his schooling in a village called Azhikode, in <keyword id="6357542" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kannur">Kannur</keyword> district of Kerala, India. Born to a pair of teachers, he went to a Malayalam medium school where both his parents taught. 
 
It’s rather surprising to know, however, that he missed most of his classes to play sports. He played six sports in school and pursued his interest up until the university level. His favorite sports are Football, Table Tennis, and Cricket even though he pursues multiple sports genres even now. 
 
He believes that a lot of learning happens outside classrooms and playing sports and games are crucial for any student. ‘These helped me in real life skills that helped me succeed in life’, Byju says adding, ‘Games teach you teamwork, leadership skills, how to control aggression and perform under pressure. These scenarios you will never come across if you’re only learning in a classroom.’ 
 
While he played all day, his studies never suffered. He attributes that to the life skill that he learned on the sports field, in an unstructured environment ‘The sports schedule forced me to start ‘learning on my own’ by asking questions. It takes less amount of time if the students take an initiative, especially in the subjects they like. Parents and teachers are important, but they mostly play a supportive role.’ 
 
He laments the current educational system in place in India, where rote learning is prevalent. ‘The exams get over and you forget everything you learned. Students fear exams because they see it as an end goal. When the focus is more on marks and grades, the result is that you miss out on the learning part. Assessment is a part of learning, not just learning. The focus should be more on learning, that’s when exams get below your level.’ 
 
Byju insists that the only way to succeed is when every student is playing to his or her strengths. ‘It is important for every student to find out what they like and figure what they’re good at.’ His favorite subject was Math, a subject that most of us dread. He was a National level Math Olympiad winner in school and that same focus and dedication towards his most loved subject is what led to the creation of Byju’s. 
 When Byju graduated College and started working as an engineer, during a vacation break, he ended up sitting for the CAT exam (Common Aptitude Test that students appear for in order to gain entrance into the elite <keyword id="63618" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Institute-of-Management">Indian Institute of Management</keyword> colleges that provide MBA degrees), alongside his friends, just for fun. He scored a 100 percentile and was surprised that he had cracked one of India’s toughest and prestigious entrance exams on the first try, without actually having prepared thoroughly at all. He sat for it again to test himself and repeated the score. For him, the exam was another game he loved to play. 
 
This success got the students flocking to him, first his friends, then friends of friends. He figured he quite enjoyed teaching and conducted CAT workshops for free, starting with 35-40 students, going up to a 1000 in a matter of weeks. 
This overwhelming response validated his method of teaching, where he taught students how to predict questions, instead of memorizing them. This method of familiarizing students attracted students from different cities to Bangalore (India’s Silicon Valley), where he had started. 
 
He quit his job as an engineer and took up teaching full-time, even traveling to nearby towns to reach as many students as possible. 
From coffee shops to rooms to auditoriums to stadiums, there wasn’t a single place in the city where Byju’s classes weren’t running. He turned to the digital platform when he realized that he could make learning fun for many more students, simultaneously. 
He’s been at it since 2007 but the company- 'Think and learn' was formed in 2011, alongside few of his best students who joined him after graduating from the elite IIMs. 
 
The Byju’s learning app, which is making learning contextually and visually appealing, has seen over 5.5 million downloads. It was released just 12 months back and the founder is stunned by the response he has seen from school students. 
 
In the Indian start-up ecosystem, where the biggest names are losing money, Byju’s is already profitable and popular amongst the most impressionable ones amongst us. This goes to show that sometimes children are the best judge of character perhaps they see the value and ask the fundamental questions which matter the most. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/20-Top-funded-Indian-Startups-in-2016-so-far/articleshow/53490954.cms?format=slideshow">Byju’s</a> is increasingly becoming the Ed-tech startup that is climbing steadily on a learning curve, teaching not just the students, but the start-ups too, a valuable lesson in staying grounded, yet afloat.

Behind Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's first Asian investment- Inspiring story of Byju's founder

<ul><li>India’s largest online tutoring startup Byju’s is expected to become 4th most valued startup in the country after Paytm, Ola Cabs and OYO Rooms. </li><li>The company’s valuation is expected to be raised to ₹254 billion ($3.5 billion) by the end of the funding round with the company adding $200-300 million to its portfolio. </li><li>The company has successfully got blue- chip investors including the private equity giant General Atlantic. </li></ul>India’s largest <keyword id="23248" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Online-learning">online learning</keyword> startup Byju’s (Think &amp; Learn Pvt Ltd) is all set to be the 4th most valued Indian startup. It’s in the middle of a new funding round that’s <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Companies/kNyn82lsWEVRP34pbxyRsK/Byjus-may-achieve-4th-rank-in-Indias-startups-class.html">expected to raise</a> ₹14.5 million to ₹ 22 million ($200-300 million) from new investors including General Atlantic, a private equity giant. The influx of new funds are expected to increase the company’s value to ₹245 billion ($3.5 billion) making it the fourth highest valued company in the league after digital payments company Paytm, cab service provider Ola and budget hotel chain OYO Rooms. Sources close to these developments have said that private equity has inflated the valuation of the start up to an amount higher than what was expected at first. The secondary valuation is expected to happen at a lower amount since the existing investors, such as Sequoia Capital, may release a certain part of its shares or consider exiting the company altogether. Last month, the edutech startup closed the funding round gushing <a href="https://entrackr.com/2018/10/byjus-4th-most-valued-indian-startup/">$100 million</a> with the valuation reaching $2 billion mark already. It looks like the overpowering interest of the investors in the startup has lead to a valuation higher than anticipated post the closing round. Byju’s story so far Byju’s has been one of the fastest growing tech <keyword id="6362513" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups">startups</keyword> in India. The company raised around $30 million from Verlinvest followed by $40 million from Tencent Holdings Ltd in July 2017, as reported by<a href="https://www.livemint.com/Companies/kNyn82lsWEVRP34pbxyRsK/Byjus-may-achieve-4th-rank-in-Indias-startups-class.html"> Mint.</a> So far, the startup has exceeded the investor expectations with its growth trajectory. The company that was originally just an offline teaching centre in Bengaluru, slowly expanded its operations online with the launch of its first app in 2015. The tutoring startup also plans to come up with apps for younger students soon. The company also acquired Vidyartha, TutorVista and Edurite last year as a mark of its growth and is ready with its fourth acquisition Math Adventures this year. By the end of FY18, the <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Companies/kNyn82lsWEVRP34pbxyRsK/Byjus-may-achieve-4th-rank-in-Indias-startups-class.html">expectation</a> is that Byju’s is only going get more lucrative. The company also claimed to have exceeded ₹100 crore monthly revenue this June and is looking forward to reach a mark of ₹1400 crore as the overall revenue. Byju Raveendran, Chief Executive, communicated to the <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/edutech-startup-byjus-quietly-turns-a-unicorn-company/articleshow/63293773.cms">Economic Times</a> that it is the fourth consecutive year that the startup has crossed 100% growth. Currently, the startup has a user base of 15 billion which includes a segment of paid users seeking education through online platforms. (Photo credit: <a href="https://www.startupstories.in/">Startup Stories India</a>)

India’s largest online learning service is all set to become the 4th highest valued Indian startup with a ₹254 billion valuation

<ul><li><keyword id="46718" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="iday" source="Orion">iDay</keyword> is dubbed as India's Largest &amp; most Definitive Startup Event for Tech Entrepreneurs featuring Global Icons, Unicorn Founders &amp; Leading Investors</li><li>Focuses on Tech trends including Fintech, Crypto SaaS for SMEs, Gig Economy, Capital Markets, Healthcare, Hybrid education &amp; More</li><li>Spread across 2 Days | 100+Speakers |50+ Sessions | Unicorn Roundtables, Workshops, Masterclasses &amp; Engaging Sessions</li></ul>With a huge number of companies witnessing accelerated scale, despite uncertain times, <keyword id="502904" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tie-delhi-ncr" source="Orion">TiE Delhi-NCR</keyword> is organising the 10th edition of <keyword id="4390638" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="India-internet-day" source="Orion">India Internet Day</keyword> (iDay) in virtual format, with the theme ‘Digital India: Escape Velocity. With a Focus on Tech trends including Fintech, Crypto SaaS for SMEs, Gig Economy, Capital markets, Healthcare, Hybrid education &amp; more, it will span over 2 days 23rd &amp; 24th September. The conference plays host to in-depth sessions &amp; keynotes by leading founders &amp; investors from India and around the World. Speaking about the event, Karan Mohla, Co- Chair for iDay 2021 &amp; Partner, Chiratae Ventures said – “As India leapfrogs to being a tech enabled economy, India Internet Day 2021 rings in with the theme - Digital India: Escape Velocity. The year 2021 has been a defining one for the Indian startup ecosystem in more ways than one — record amount of fund inflow, creation of new unicorns, companies going public, and a new benchmark in terms of mergers &amp; acquisitions. This reflects the strength of the Indian start-ups. Through iDay this year we are putting a spotlight on the learning, insights &amp; trends which have in last 18 months, seem to have lent ESCAPE VELOCITY to the entire startup ecosystem.” Business Insider is the media partner for TiE's ‘Digital India: Escape Velocity' event. The Stellar line up at the event includes Global Speakers, Leading Entrepreneurs, Investors, Influencers, Startups, Tech Innovators likeRuchir Sharma, Morgan Stanley | Monish Darda, Icertis | Surojit Chatterjee, Coinbase | Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera |John T Chambers, JC2 Ventures |Kanwaljit Singh, Fireside Ventures |Balaji S. Srinivasan, Angel Investor &amp; Entrepreneur, | Byju Raveendran, Founder &amp; CEO- Byju’s |Kunal Bahl, Co-founder &amp; CEO – Snapdeal|Kushal Bhagia, CEO – firstcheque | Rajan Anandan, Sequoia India &amp; Surge | Kumara Raghavan, Amazon Internet Services |Bikram Singh Bedi, Google Cloud | Lathika Pai, Microsoft |Vani Kola, Managing Director – Kalaari Capital | Supria Dhanda, Western Digital. “India Internet Day is curated &amp; led by a team of serial entrepreneurs &amp; investors. It has become a leading platform to catch the makers and leaders of the India Internet Growth story. Over the years, tech entrepreneurs have hugely gained from the conference. This year we put a spotlight on how technology &amp; resilience have shown the way through the worst crisis of our times. 40% of Indian unicorns have been added in 2021 &amp; this augurs well for the startup ecosystem. With engaging conversations at #iDay in form of Keynotes, Fireside Chats, AMAs. Masterclasses, Panel Discussions, Unicorn Roundtables, we wish to continue to foster entrepreneurship.” said Geetika Dayal, Executive Director, TiE Delhi-NCR The Conference was supported by Startup India, Google, Western Digital, Sequoia Capital, Morgan Stanley, Coinbase, Microsoft, AWS, Icertis, Kalaari and Avendus. About TiE Delhi-NCR’s India Internet Day From its inception #iDay has set out to be a leadership conference that looks to set conversations around vision 2025 for the industry. After a resounding debut in 2012, it has grown from being relevant to being indispensable for stakeholders across the ecosystem. #iDay hosts the entire gamut of internet mobile industry in India like no other forum. India Internet Day 2020 Co-Chairs – Lathika Pai &amp; Mohit Bhatnagar along with the team Abhishek Gupta, Alok Mittal, Arvind Jha, Deep Kalra, Dev Khare, Gautam Gandhi, Karan Mohla, Latika Pai, Miten Sampat, Prasanto K Roy, Rajan Anandan, Rajat Garg, Rajesh Sawhney, Ravi Gururaj and Vani Kola are the torchbearers who put together the conference that has emerged as the only voice of India’s internet industry. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/airtel-rights-issue-details-record-date-issue-price-and-more/articleshow/86446419.cms">Airtel rights issue worth ₹21,000 crore opens next month – record date, price, ratio and everything else you need to know</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/freshworks-ipo-500-crorepatis-12-billion-market-cap-and-more-that-emerged-from-indias-first-saas-listing-at-nasdaq/articleshow/86445614.cms">Freshworks IPO — 500 crorepatis, $12 billion market cap and more that emerged from India’s first SaaS listing at Nasdaq</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/zee-sony-merger-heres-what-sony-is-really-getting-from-zee-entertainment/articleshow/86420990.cms">Zee-Sony merger: Here’s what Sony is really getting from Zee Entertainment</a>

TiE Delhi-NCR kickstarts the 10th Edition of India Internet Day themed Digital India: Escape Velocity

<ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink">Global Trends Festival</a> is one of the world's most prestigious events which will be live from Oct 19-23.</li><li>While nobel laureates, some of the biggest political and corporate icons will provide thought leadership, it's a great platform to network with CXOs from around the world.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink">Global Trends Festival 2020</a> is presented by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://aws.amazon.com/" data-type="tilCustomLink">AWS</a>.</li><li>Register for the <keyword id="10088455" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="global-trends-festival">Global Trends Festival</keyword> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsform_2020.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">here</a>.</li></ul> One thing binds the Netflix series 'The Kissing Booth,' Harper Collins' book series 'Dinner with the vampire' and the 2019 romantic film 'After.' They were all first published on Wattpad, founded by <keyword id="7421771" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Allen-Lau">Allen Lau</keyword> and Ivan Yuen. The pair started what was then supposed to be 'YouTube' for the written word to bring people to jot down ideas and democratize a literary agent's job. Interestingly, Wattpad was formed in the same year that Google purchased YouTube, and the pair who had been working with startups had hoped for early success. After all, the world was ripe for it. It wasn't. A year later, in 2007, they earned $2 from Google as their ad earnings. However, soon they attracted the attention of new-age and young writers and brought with them their audience, which swelled to <a href="https://news.engineering.utoronto.ca/the-content-factory-how-u-of-t-alumnus-allen-lau-is-disrupting-the-way-books-movies-and-tv-shows-are-made/">70 million monthly users</a> as of today. Since then, book publishers have been sieving through the 'content factory' (with over half a billion uploads) to scour for the next big hit! But, Lau decided not to let their revenue model slip through their fingers. They have their own book imprint now, along with a paid model for their users. But that's not all. They have access to billions of data points on what people want to read and like to read and enough information to catch young readers' pulse. In a way, Lau has changed the way stories are told. At the Global Trends event, Lau will speak about the future of storytelling. The pandemic has unleashed a new wave of content consumption and has affected audience preferences. Lau will share insights from his own experiences on the emerging new formats of content creation and consumption. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/catch-lord-adair-turner-the-technocrat-who-is-devising-ways-and-means-to-move-towards-a-zero-carbon-economy-at-the-global-trends-festival-2020/articleshow/78661710.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Catch Lord Adair Turner, the technocrat who is devising ways and means to move towards a zero-carbon economy, at the Global Trends Festival 2020</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/catch-kiran-mazumdar-shaw-at-the-global-trends-festival-2020-speak-about-unlocking-indias-suppressed-potential/articleshow/78642685.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Catch Kiran Mazumdar Shaw at the Global Trends Festival 2020, speak about unlocking India's suppressed potential</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/hear-and-learn-from-byju-raveendran-the-man-who-made-online-classes-fun-years-before-covid-at-the-global-trends-festival-2020/articleshow/78641694.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Hear and learn from Byju Raveendran, the man who made online classes fun, years before COVID, at the Global Trends Festival 2020</a>

Catch Allen Lau talk about ushering in the new age of storytelling at the Global Trends Festival 2020

<ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink">Global Trends Festival</a> is one of the world's most prestigious events which will be live from Oct 19-23.</li><li>While nobel laureates, some of the biggest political and corporate icons will provide thought leadership, it's a great platform to network with CXOs from around the world.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink">Global Trends Festival 2020</a> is presented by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://aws.amazon.com/" data-type="tilCustomLink">AWS</a>.</li><li>Register for the <keyword id="10088455" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="global-trends-festival">Global Trends Festival</keyword> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsform_2020.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">here</a>.</li></ul> Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is India's richest self-made woman. She started Biocon at the age of 25 and has built it up into the country's largest pharmaceutical company. Her journey to the top was no easy task, but Shaw is known for her thinking and vision. Shaw could foresee the potential and opportunity in the biotech space, and she capitalised on it. Shaw calls herself an "accidental entrepreneur." She wanted to become India's first woman brewmaster. When those plans met with resistance in India, she set her sights on the industrial enzyme-producing business and marched on to conquer the biopharma space in the 90s. In 2014, Biocon was India's first biotech company to go public, and it hit the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/news/indias-second-richest-woman-kiran-mazumdar-shaw-nearly-doubles-her-wealth-to-4-6-billion-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/articleshow/78569565.cms">$1 billion mark</a> on the day it listed. There has been no looking back since. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw believes that women play an essential role in economic development, and their contribution has been ignored for a long time. "It's a myth to think that women are not bold enough to run daring businesses. It's a myth that all of us have busted time. So, I'm really surprised that the world still doesn't get it," she told <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/personalities/news/kiran-mazumdar-shaw-wanted-to-be-a-brewmaster-before-founding-the-largest-biotech-company-in-india/articleshow/74508921.cms">Twitter </a>in an interview earlier this year. A pioneer of the biotech industry in India, Shaw has been conferred upon with Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan. She believes that entrepreneurship is not about making the moolah but having a purpose, and one must always think about giving back to society. In fact, Shaw can tell the Covid-19 story as a survivor and a healer. After all, she has the first-hand experience — as the 67-year old tested positive in mid-August and recovered by the end of the month. And her $7 billion company, Biocon's repurposed drug, Itolizumab, is used to treat the dreaded virus for emergency cases. However, the drug is not a part of the government's clinical management protocol for COVID-19 treatment yet. At the Global Trends Festival 2020, Shaw will share insights on why entrepreneurs must be risk-takers, her journey as a businesswoman, and unlocking India's suppressed potential. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/guenter-butschek-will-speak-about-the-much-needed-electric-push-towards-a-greener-future-at-the-global-trends-festival/articleshow/78642212.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Guenter Butschek will speak about the much needed electric push towards a greener future at the Global Trends Festival</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/hear-and-learn-from-byju-raveendran-the-man-who-made-online-classes-fun-years-before-covid-at-the-global-trends-festival-2020/articleshow/78641694.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Hear and learn from Byju Raveendran, the man who made online classes fun, years before COVID, at the Global Trends Festival 2020</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/trendsfestival" data-type="tilCustomLink"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/dont-miss-rana-daggubati-speak-about-the-future-of-storytelling-at-the-global-trends-festival-2020/articleshow/78630087.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Don’t miss Rana Daggubati speak about the future of storytelling at the Global Trends Festival 2020</a>

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