Once hailed as a trailblazer in online education, Byju’s now finds itself at the center of a digital and financial unraveling. Its flagship learning app has suddenly vanished from the Google Play Store—a move that caught many users off guard. At the same time, the company’s main website, Byjus.com, has been reduced to little more than a placeholder. Gone are the educational resources, the slick navigation, the interactive content. It’s essentially a landing page now, and that says a lot.
Millions who depended on the app are now in limbo. Even those who had it installed report being locked out of paid content, video lessons, and other core features. The website, once a bustling hub for students and parents alike, now throws up server errors for essential tools like free student sessions and the Early Learn program. This isn’t just a glitch. It looks and feels like the unraveling of a company under real pressure.
What Triggered the Disruption? Unpaid Bills to Cloud Provider
So, what exactly went wrong? According to sources close to the situation, the outage is rooted in something rather mundane but deeply consequential: unpaid bills. Specifically, overdue payments to Amazon Web Services (AWS), which hosts much of Byju’s digital infrastructure. It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes hiccup that usually gets resolved quietly. Not this time.
AWS powers everything from app content to video streaming. So when those payments stopped, so did the services. And it appears this isn’t a one-off. It reflects a broader cash crunch that’s been building for more than a year now—a slow-motion collapse that even loyal users could see coming.
A Timeline of Trouble: Financial Woes Mount
Byju’s decline didn’t happen overnight. Here’s a closer look at the slow-motion descent:
- 2021: Byju’s secured a $1.2 billion term loan. Later, founder Byju Raveendran admitted it was a poor decision, saying equity funding would have been the wiser route.
- Late 2022: Delays in releasing audited financials rattled confidence and raised red flags for its U.S. lenders.
- Mid-2023: Legal battles kicked off with those lenders over the massive loan. Accusations of financial mismanagement surfaced, especially after reports emerged of $533 million being transferred out under unclear circumstances.
- August 2023: Several of Byju’s offline tuition centers were shuttered. Non-payment of rent was the likely cause.
- Late 2023: Big-name investors began jumping ship. Prosus, Peak XV Partners, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative all resigned from the board. BlackRock dramatically cut Byju’s valuation.
- Early 2024: The BCCI filed an insolvency petition to recover Rs 158 crore in unpaid sponsorship dues. By February, a court-appointed Resolution Professional had taken the reins.
- March 2024: Raveendran broke his silence on social media with a post that read, “Broke, not Broken. We will rise again.” It was heartfelt, but reactions were split.
Each of these events added another layer to what now seems like a full-blown corporate crisis.
Impact on Users and the Edtech Sector
For users, especially students and parents, the fallout is immediate and frustrating. Those who paid for annual or multi-year subscriptions suddenly find themselves without access to the learning tools they depended on. Some are scrambling for refunds. Others are simply looking for a new platform to fill the gap.
But it’s not just about Byju’s. This episode throws a harsh spotlight on the broader edtech sector. The era of rapid growth, fueled by sky-high valuations and aggressive borrowing, might be nearing its end. Sustainability, cautious scaling, and sound financial practices—those might just become the new buzzwords.
Other Byju’s Apps Remain, For Now
Interestingly, not all of Byju’s digital offerings have disappeared. Apps like Byju’s Exam Prep, tailored for competitive exams like IAS, MBA, and UGC NET, are still up on the Google Play Store. The Think and Learn Premium app is also reportedly functional. That said, backend disruptions are still possible, given the company’s ongoing payment issues.
Also worth noting: Aakash Institute, Byju’s offline coaching arm, continues to operate. It functions with some degree of independence, which might be why it’s managed to stay the course—at least for now.
So, is this the end for Byju’s as we knew it? Hard to say. The company is now under the control of a court-appointed Resolution Professional as part of the insolvency process. Raveendran has spoken of a “Byju’s 3.0” — a version driven more by purpose than profit. But first, the immediate mess needs cleaning up: restoring core services, settling dues, and reassuring an increasingly skeptical public.
If Byju’s is to stage a comeback, it will need more than just an inspirational slogan. It will need a plan, real capital, and perhaps most critically, trust. For now, though, the disappearance of its main app and the hollowing out of its website are sobering reminders of just how far it’s fallen—and how much further it might still have to go.
