India’s crime-fighting agency searched three premises of edtech giant Byju’s and its founder Byju Raveendran, it said Saturday, and seized various “incriminating” documents and digital data.
The Enforcement Directorate said it conducted the searches under the provisions of the nation’s anti-money laundering law, but declined to elaborate. The agency has conducted several similar probes in recent months, including at crypto firm WazirX, phonemaker Vivo and news broadcaster the BBC.
The Bengaluru-headquartered Byju’s, which is India’s most valuable startup and which counts BlackRock, Sequoia India, Lightspeed Venture Partners India, UBS among its backers, termed the searches as “a routine inquiry,” and said the startup maintains complete transparency with the authorities.
“We have nothing but the utmost confidence in the integrity of our operations, and we are committed to upholding the highest standards of compliance and ethics. We will continue to work closely with the authorities to ensure that they have all the information they need, and we are confident that this matter will be resolved in a timely and satisfactory manner. We want to emphasize that it is business as usual at Byju’s,” a spokesperson of Byju’s legal team said in a statement.
“We are committed to delivering high-quality educational products and services to our customers across India and the world. We remain focused on our mission to transform the way students learn and prepare for their future.”
ED’s statement comes at a time when Byju’s is closing a large funding round and is gearing up for the IPO of its subsidiary unit physical tutor chain Aakash.
