(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- Coronavirus lockdowns sent India’s economy into its first contraction in decades, but for a few entrepreneurs the crisis has also meant opportunity: Revenue for Byju’s is expected to double, to more than $1 billion, in the fiscal year ending next March.
The app’s lessons include everything from drawing for kindergartners to quantum physics for high school seniors. Raveendran introduced it in 2015 to connect teachers in India with students just as affordable smartphones and cheap wireless data gave many of the country’s 250 million school-age children access to technology.
The son of schoolteachers, Raveendran got his start as a star tutor who jetted around India, teaching high school math at sports stadiums and doing exam prep for prospective engineers and businesspeople in large auditoriums. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Bond Capital Associates LLC (co-founded by Mary Meeker), and BlackRock Inc. are backing his vision, driving Byju’s valuation from $8 billion in January to $12 billion in October.
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