Byju Raveendran, founder of collapsed edtech company Byju’s, has been sentenced to six months in jail by a Singapore court in a contempt case, people with knowledge of the development told Bloomberg.The court directed Raveendran to face jail term after he failed to comply with several court orders related to his assets from April 2024.He has also been asked to surrender to authorities, pay legal costs of S$90,000 (about $70,500) and submit documents establishing his legal ownership of Beaar Investco Pte, an entity that holds shares in an affiliated company.The decision is another blow to the entrepreneur, who is already facing legal challenges from foreign investors in multiple jurisdictions. In the United States, lenders are attempting to recoup losses associated with $1.2 billion of loans.According to the report, it is not clear whether Raveendran is currently in Singapore or any other country.Raveendran founded Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, widely known as Byju’s, which once emerged as one of India’s biggest startup success stories and turned him into a billionaire amid increased interest from global investors in Indian technology firms.He is currently facing legal action in Singapore on behalf of a subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority, which participated in a funding round for the edtech company during a period when the company was cutting jobs and scaling back operations.Qatar Holdings was represented by Drew & Napier in the case, while Byju Investments was represented by Fervent Chambers, the report said.The rise and fall of Byju’sByju’s, once considered the poster child of India’s edtech boom, transformed itself from a small learning platform into a global education technology giant, valued at $22 billion at its peak.Launched in 2011, the company initially gained popularity through its learning apps, which benefited from increasing smartphone penetration in India and strong demand for test-prep services.Its expansion accelerated rapidly during the pandemic as online learning became mainstream. The company grew rapidly through aggressive advertising campaigns, celebrity endorsements, and acquisitions such as Aakash, Great Learning, and Epic. The rapid growth phase cemented Byju’s image as a global edtech leader, with international expansion plans and strong investor interest reinforcing confidence in the business model.However, a large portion of the company’s growth was driven by heavy spending rather than sustainable profitability. As demand cooled following the pandemic, revenue growth slowed while operating expenses remained high, revealing deep structural challenges within the business.The same aggressive strategy that helped Byju’s achieve global prominence ultimately contributed to its troubles, including expensive acquisitions, reliance on debt financing, and a revenue model that relied heavily on high-pressure sales tactics rather than organic user growth.Even as the company expanded aggressively, concerns over its financial disclosures began to emerge, with Byju’s facing repeated delays in filing audited financial statements.One of the most visible controversies surrounding Byju’s emerged from its sponsorship arrangement with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, a partnership that played a major role in shaping the company’s brand image during its rapid expansion phase. The edtech firm reportedly owed the cricket board around Rs 159 crore. Although the amount was relatively small compared to the company’s broader global liabilities, the outcome proved significant. After payments remained unsettled, the BCCI initiated recovery actions, eventually including Think & Learn – Byju’s parent company – into corporate insolvency resolution proceedings (CIRP). The development marks one of the first major cases where a sponsorship payment dispute pushed a unicorn-stage technology startup into bankruptcy proceedings, exposing the extent of the company’s liquidity strain.Court records and legal proceedings later revealed that Byju’s had attempted to reach a negotiated settlement in an attempt to avoid a protracted bankruptcy battle. However, the case soon spread beyond India as foreign lenders linked to the company’s US term-loan financing approached US courts to block the settlement.(It’s a top Google Trends topic.)