Byju Vs BYJU'S Alpha, Urban Company's INR 528 Cr IPO & More

Now, It’s Byju Vs BYJU’S Alpha

Lenders are amping up the heat on BYJU’S. The creditors, via the edtech’s US-based special purpose vehicle (SPV) BYJU’S Alpha, have sued cofounders Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath and advisor Anita Kishore for allegedly ‘misappropriating’ $533 Mn in funds.

Allegations Run Amok: In its lawsuit, the lenders allege that the three orchestrated a lawless scheme to conceal and steal $533 Mn of loan proceeds and deliberately hid the assets of BYJU’s Alpha.

In retort, cofounders have termed the charges “baseless and untrue”, and accused the creditors of conspiring to take control of BYJU’S through ‘nefarious means’, including filing lawsuits and using media narratives.

The Deeper Rot: The US-based SPV was established by the company in 2022 to manage the proceeds of the $1.2 Bn term loan B (TLB). The aftermath, in the words of creditors, saw Camshaft Capital Fund and other offshore entities.

Inside The Complex Insolvency Puzzle: The fresh tussle between the founders and creditors comes as the . Earlier, Raveendran accused EY India, lenders, and recently fired IRP Pankaj Srivastava of .

The insolvency proceedings are emblematic of the many fires the company has been trying to douse for more than two years now – mounting losses, layoffs, an impending shutdown, regulatory scrutiny, legal cases, and the list is far from over.

While there is no telling if there is light at the end of the tunnel for BYJU’S, here is the latest flashpoint between promoters and lenders of once the posterchild India’s edtech sector.

From The Editor’s Desk

: The consumer services startup has bagged the board’s approval to raise up to INR 528 Cr via a fresh issue as part of its proposed IPO. The startup’s public issue will also comprise an undisclosed amount of offer-for-sale component.

: The D2C furniture and mattress startup has roped in Axis Capital, IIFL Capital Services and Nomura as bankers to helm its planned IPO. The company is said to be looking to raise around INR 1,500-2,000 Cr via the public listing.

? In 2024, AI became the core of India’s SaaS evolution. Building on the momentum, startups are now being built by AI, not just with it, prompting a shift in investor focus toward AI-native models, proprietary data, and deep domain-specific apps.

: Grappling with a financial crisis, the EV ride-hailing major is said to have delayed salaries for March. In an email to the employees, cofounder Anmol Singh Jaggi assured that all the pending dues will be cleared by the April-end.

: CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy has said that the ecommerce major will expand its dark store count to 800 by the end of 2025. Flipkart currently operates 300 stores under its quick commerce brand, Flipkart Minutes.

: Koshy has stepped down as MD and CEO of the state-backed network after a three-year-long stint. The CEO’s exit comes close to the recent exit of ONDC’s chief business officer Shireesh Joshi.

: Founded in 2014, dating app Aisle has faced several challenges over the years, including revenue fluctuations and a tough pandemic period that tested its resilience. But, its fortunes turned after it was acquired by Info Edge in 2022.

: Zomato’s parent has announced that its step-down subsidiary in the Netherlands has initiated its liquidation process. The company said the dissolution will not impact the company’s top line.

Inc42 Startup Spotlight How Observe.AI Is Redefining The Future Of Contact Centres

While AI-powered chatbots have improved customer service, challenges still persist, and most user queries still require human intervention due to limitations in current GenAI systems.

Human-AI Collaboration: To solve this, Swapnil Jain, Akash Singh and Sharath Keshava Narayana founded Observe.AI to equip human agents with AI tools to enhance efficiency and accuracy in contact centres.

Its tech stack — including speech-to-text, in-house LLMs, and now text-to-speech via the Dubdub.ai acquisition — enables quality assurance, coaching, summarisation, and real-time agent assistance.

Strides So Far: Observe.AI serves 350+ enterprises across healthcare, BFSI, and home care, and claims to deliver up to 60% efficiency gains. With the growing enterprise adoption of AI and the rising need for reliable customer support automation, Observe.AI sits at the convergence of voice, GenAI, and human-AI collaboration.

While competition is intensifying, its tech-first approach and focus on enterprise-grade reliability could give it an edge as it scales both in the US and eventually in India. For now, the question is —

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