India Has Just Had Its Youngest Billionaire, Byju Raveendran, A Former Teacher

India has just got another billionaire, a former teacher from a Kerala’s small village. Byju Raveendran received the title thanks to his education startup named Byju. The newest deal boosted the company's business valuation and his personal wealth to $5.7 billion and one billion respectively. Raveendran has 21% stakes in the company, which has the investment of Mark Zuckerberg, Tencent, and the Qatar Investment Authority

He is now Indian youngest billionaire, joining the wave of emerging entrepreneurs like Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal of Flipkart.

A Young Success

Byju Raveendran used to live in Azhikode, a village in South India. His parents are both teachers, one of math and the other of physics. Raveendran used to work as an engineer before finding his passion for teaching. When he had free time, he would tutor his friends for entrance exams in management and engineering.

Raveendran and his talent for teaching had won him lots of requests from students all over the country.

In 2011, he and Divya Gokulnath found Byju’s, an education app for children from five to sixteen years old. The platform offers games, quizzes, and interactive videos to help users with classes and exam preparation.

Going Global

After seven years, the platform now has around 35 million Indian users, with 2.5 million who pay from $145 to $290 per year. The next destinations for the young billionaire are the US and the UK after forming a partnership with Walt Disney Co.

Talking about the collaboration with Disney, Raveendran said that he wanted to do what Walt Disney did for entertainment, but in education. Children can learn with the help of their favorite characters.

He said that kids around the world relate to Moana or Simba, so this integration would surely have their attention before the app presented knowledge to them. For now, the company is adjusting Disney Byju’s to suit British and American children liking.