Byju's Learning app removed from Google Play Store; here’s why

Byju's Learning app has been removed from Google's Play Store due to non-payment of dues to its vendor Amazon Web Services (AWS), reported PTI.

The cash-strapped edtech startup’s learning app was delisted from the Play Store due to outstanding payments to Amazon Web Services, which offers support for the app, the newswire reported. Currently, Byju's operations are under the management of an Insolvency Resolution Professional, who is responsible for addressing all payment-related matters.

Since April of last year, AWS has been working to address payment disputes with Think and Learn, the entity operating under the Byju's brand.

Meanwhile, other apps from the edtech company, such as Byju’s Exam Prep for competitive exam candidates (like IAS, MBA, and UGC NET) and the Think and Learn Premium app, remain available on the platform.

Once valued at $22 billion, Byju’s has seen its valuation plummet, with Raveendran last year acknowledging that the core business generates "zero" revenue.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Byju's embarked on a series of acquisitions, spending over $2.5 billion. These included purchasing Aakash Educational Services for around $1 billion, U.S.-based Epic, the kids' coding platform Tynker, the professional education company Great Learning, and the exam preparation platform Toppr.

In an interview to ANI recently, Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran traced the crisis to the company’s aggressive push into 21 countries during the pandemic-era boom from 2019 to 2021, fuelled by capital and investor pressure to grow. “Every investor — we have 160 world-class equity investors — the mandate was: grow, grow, change the way kids learned,” he said. “We were raising money for growth… [but] when the world changed — interest rates went up, the Russia-Ukraine war started — liquidity dried up, $700 million of signed, committed capital didn’t turn up,” Raveendran said.

Beleaguered Byju's is facing multiple litigations, including a $1.2 billion loan repayment dispute with lenders. The Byju's founder last year said that the company’s downfall was triggered when key investors including Prosus, Peak XV Partners, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, resigned from the board in 2023, crippling its ability to raise funds. Raveendran blamed investors for abandoning the company during its struggles with mounting debt.

Adding to its woes, the National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) admitted a plea by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) seeking insolvency proceedings against edtech startup Byju’s in 2024. The BCCI filed an appeal with the tribunal after Byju’s allegedly defaulted on a payment of ₹158 crore under their sponsorship contract for the Indian cricket team.

One of Byju’s biggest investors, Prosus, wrote off its 9.6% stake in edtech platform Byju's citing a decrease in value for equity investors.

In 2023, the Enforcement Directorate had alleged that Byju’s made significant foreign remittances outside India and investments abroad which were in contravention of provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999 and caused loss of revenue to the Government of India.