BYJU’S 3.0 is back: Can the edtech company reclaim the trust Byju Raveendran has lost?

To a majority of subscribers and their parents, the comeback of BYJU’S, the tech-backed e-learning startup focussed on K-12 and test-prep, is an opportunity for closure on account of both the money owed and services that have been put on hold due to ED investigations. But for those in the business community, BYJU’S comeback, that too with AI-driven changes, is the return of a pioneering movement that once stood as proof of what happens when a clear vision holds hands with the right tech.

BYJU’S fall and the reckoning

Any successful business is made by its product. Though BYJU’S had a fantastic product—well-articulated lessons packed with intuitive visuals, simple and suitable animation, and structured delivery—the processes were not streamlined. The enrolment was hard-sold and force-fitted into young people’s lives, though direct selling.

Harishankar Padmanabhan, who left BYJU’S when “things began to decline” and is founder and CEO of Speak Your Mind Education—a bootstrapped edtech startup in Chennai—looks back at the time when he was a part of the beleaguered edtech firm. “I still remember when I joined, Facebook had just invested in BYJU’S, and the energy was sky-high. Freshers were being hired at packages of ₹10 lakh, and everyone dreamed of being part of the company,” he says, adding that things began to change after the company acquired WhiteHat Jr. (in 2020). “BYJU’S was always driven by aggressive sales tactics. I recall instances where, if a customer requested a refund, the response was a flat, ‘We don’t give the money back’.”

Founder Byju Raveendran , the person with the dream, had the passion to teach, to make children confident self-learners. Former employees still vouch for the way he communicated his excitement to them and urged them to translate it into their goals. But unfortunately, the passion remained at the top—it didn’t percolate to the employees—a misstep most founder-driven organisations encounter after a few years of functioning. BYJU’S encountered it within a couple of years after its founding. But the absence of alignment was not the only missing link. Even before the employees gained ground, BYJU’S went into a massive expansion mode, across the globe.

A massive hiring spree, acquisitions, and capacity building followed the hyper-growth, prompting the entire structure to come crashing down. Two years later, Byju Raveendran and his wife and co-founder Divya Gokulnath are back in the news—giving interviews, admitting to the missteps with what-went-wrong reasoning in hindsight. They have also hinted at their comeback—BYJU’S 3.0, which has set the industry abuzz with both expectations and apprehensions.

“To me, BYJU’S comeback feels like a reminder that the startup journey is never a straight line,” says Uppathi Sai Sreekar, founder of SmartED Innovations and SkillRank.online, which deal with upskilling and job placement, respectively. “Having been part of the ecosystem during their rise, it’s clear they made a huge impact,” adds Sreekar.

Edtech in India is a multi-billion-dollar industry. The pandemic and the switch to online learning created an upsurge in the number of startups, with BYJU’S, Unacademy and Vedantu emerging as unicorns. In 2022, at the peak of its growth, BYJU’S took $3.5 billion in both equity and debt. Though the children gained a lot through the instructional content, soon questionable practices, including the extortion of students’ parents for enrolment and pushing them to take loans for payment, rocked the brand.

It caused VC funding to fall. After the pandemic, the industry also experienced a slowdown. In 2024, the funding picked back up a bit, amounting to $568 million. In 2025, the market is undergoing more correction and consolidation. According to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), a trust established by the Indian government’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the market is currently valued at $7.5 billion and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 25.8% to reach $29 billion by 2030. And BYJU’S is ready to re-enter the market, with its reorganised 3.0.

But when BYJU’S left the trail, it left so much room that many edtech startups came in to fill the space, with leaner models. The landscape has since evolved with student-centric approaches, interactive and application-oriented learning, and critical thinking shaping the innovations in the field. In a recent podcast, Byju Raveendran claimed that most of his former employees are entrepreneurs today.

What BYJU’S 3.0 is up against

BYJU’S 3.0 not only faces the challenge of reinstating trust, making its culture meet its approach in the market, it also needs to match its scale with sustainability.

“BYJU’S expensive model and English-first content needs rethinking if the brand wants to address the needs of India’s rural population of young learners,” says Padmanabhan of Speak Your Mind Education.

More importantly, it needs to resonate with today’s new-age learners who are ready to ride on the back of artificial intelligence. AI could become children’s learning companion, says Shankar Maruwada, Co-founder and CEO of EkStep Foundation, set up with Nandan Nilekani and Rohini Nilekani. The foundation is a non-profit that is focussed on transforming education and using technology to address social problems. Maruwada refers to programmes like AXL, co-created by EkStep Foundation in partnership with state governments, and AI4Bharat at IIT Madras, already integrated in schools in the public education system.

“Using advanced speech recognition and adaptive learning, AXL identifies a child’s current reading and math ability and provides abundant, targeted practice in a safe, supportive environment. Children receive just the right level of challenge, with no fear of judgement or failure. Within the regular timetable, and under the care of trained teachers, AI is improving the learning outcomes and has become a quiet enabler—amplifying what teachers do best and ensuring that no child is left behind,” he tells Fortune India.

What's next for edtech?

As a matter of fact, after the pandemic, when e-learning had a huge scope to innovate and deliver, edtech has not made any unforgettable strides. There is no exemplary model that has been consistently successful in meeting the expectations of users. Yes, there have been stand-alone innovations that have delivered, shown scale, attracted funding, got into M&As, and reasonable innovation. But deep-rooted change in learning that reflects in outcomes? That is still catching up.

“We have scratched the surface, but to move ahead, we have to solve beyond screens with equity, access, and engagement, and not just features. The best edtech platforms will be those that bring the human side of learning back into focus—not push it away,” says Sreekar of SmartED.

The Indian edtech market currently has about 18,000 start-ups engaged in delivering the much-needed 21st-century intelligence, awareness, and real-world skills. “Communication, financial literacy, sex education, civic awareness, climate responsibility,” says Padmanabhan, listing the skills that are necessary for a set of learners who are already exposed to several means of technology and communication. New players need to find a place in this evolving cosmos that affords absolutely no room for mistakes.