Byju's shuffles senior leadership, appoints Tynker CEO Krishna Vedati as leader of global growth initiatives

Srinivas Mandyam, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Tynker will replace Vedati as Tynker’s CEO.

India’s most valued startup Byju’s on June 28 named Krishna Vedati, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Tynker, as president of global growth and strategic initiatives.

The announcement comes as co-founder and CEO Byju Raveendran shifts his focus to global operations at a time when Byju’s is in talks to raise $1 billion in acquisition financing. Tynker is a K-12 creative coding platform that was acquired by Byju's last year.

The company in a statement said Vedati will report to Raveendran in his new role.

“With more than 150 million users on our personalized learning platform, it is important for us to put in place the leadership necessary to continue scaling our businesses globally,” said Raveendran.

In the newly-created role, Vedati will serve as a senior executive helping drive topline revenue and user growth, partnerships with major brands, and identifying strategic acquisitions.

“With exceptional experience in business and consumer user growth, and strategic brand partnerships, Krishna is ideally suited for this new role,” Raveendran added.

Vedati will also expand the company’s international offering by overseeing new integrated products and services from Byju's learning portfolio to students and teachers in Canada, the US, and Latin America.

Srinivas Mandyam, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Tynker will replace Vedati as Tynker’s CEO. In addition, Kelvin Chong, Tynker co-founder, and Chief Architect, will take on the expanded role of Chief Technology Officer.

“I am proud of the deep bench we have in our leadership ranks, enabling a seamless transition at our newest portfolio company Tynker as Srinivas and Kelvin move into their new roles,” added Raveendran.

Byju's acquired the K-12 creative coding platform, Tynker in September last year as part of its US expansion plans.

Earlier in May, Moneycontrol had reported Byju’s may see a change in its top management with the company elevating Chief Operating Officer (COO) Mrinal Mohit to a larger role.

Following Mohit’s promotion, Raveendran may step away from routine India operations and he will focus entirely on the global businesses, especially in the US.

According to sources, Raveendran has been out of India over the last few months and has been meeting investors in the UAE and the US. He will focus on integrating the company’s global acquisitions with the brand Byju’s as the company’s India business is pretty much saturated, the sources said.

Byju's had then declined to comment on the development.

Raveendran’s move to shift focus on global operations comes at a time when Byju’s is in talks to raise $1 billion in acquisition financing. Recently in an interview with the Economic Times, Raveendran said that the company will look to make multi-billion-dollar acquisitions in the US and elsewhere and is hence accessing all kinds of capital.

In March, Byju’s had announced raising $800 million with Raveendran leading the funding by committing $400 million to the round, along with participation from Sumeru Ventures, Vitruvian Partners and BlackRock. Raveendran’s stake in the company was set to increase to 25 percent after his $400-million investment from 23 percent.