Peak XV Partners, Prosus, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative confirm resignation of their representatives from Byju’s board

NEW DELHI: Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India and South East Asia), Prosus and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative on Friday confirmed the resignation of their representatives from the board of troubled edtech startup Byju’s.

In a statement issued late on Friday night, Peak XV Partners said that the firm’s MD GV Ravishankar has resigned from the board of Think & Learn. (parent company of Byju’s). “We are committed to supporting the company for bringing on board an independent director in order to strengthen business processes and internal control mechanisms,” a company spokesperson said.

Separately, Prosus also issued a statement confirming the development. “Prosus confirms that Russell Dreisenstock, the representing Board Director from MIH Edtech Investments, B.V. (a Prosus entity) on the board of Think & Learn Private Limited, resigned from his position. The Company is required to file the resignation letter with the MCA in India within the required time period,” the firm said. Chan Zuckerberg Initiative also said that Vivian Wu has stepped down from the firm’s board.

Byju’s which had earlier dismissed the reports of board members tendering their resignations as “entirely speculative” in a statement last night said that “few investors had to vacate the board seat due to their shareholding falling below a minimum required threshold as per our SHA (Shareholder agreement).”

Earlier in the week, TOI had reported that Peak XV Partner’s GV Ravishankar, Russell Andrew Dreisenstock of Prosus Group and Chan Zuckerberg’s Vivian Wu have resigned from the board of Byju’s. The startup’s auditor Deloitte has also resigned citing a lack of communication by the company on the status of “audit readiness” of its 2021-2022 results. Byju’s has now appointed BDO (MSKA & Associates) as its statutory auditors for five years starting April 2021.

The edtech firm which is currently engaged in a tussle with its term loan lenders has recently fired 500-1,000 full time employees in a fresh round of layoffs.


Valued at $22 billion at its peak, Byju’s which of late has seen a series of valuation markdowns by its investors like BlackRock is backed by a series of high profile investors including Tiger Global and General Atlantic. The company’s market credibility has sort of taken a beating with the recent turn of events and experts believe that the developments will make investors more cautious in terms of evaluating deals into growth and late stage Indian startups.

The firm which also delayed the release of its FY21 results significantly in late April came under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate which had searched its premises under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).