Ananya Tripathi, who served as the CEO of WhiteHat Jr., a subsidiary of Byjus has reportedly chosen to resign while, on maternity leave.
Ananya Tripathi, the CEO of WhiteHat Jr., a subsidiary fully owned by Byjus has submitted her resignation marking another departure of a senior-level executive, at India’s startup.
According to the media, Tripathi, who has been on maternity leave since May of this year has decided to move on. Byjus has not yet officially accepted her resignation. Is still attempting to convince her to stay.
During Tripathi’s absence Arjun Mohan, who rejoined Byjus in July to oversee its operations has been providing support to the team.
Tripathi joined WhiteHat Jr. in April of the year. Prior to joining WhiteHat Jr. she held the position of Managing Director at KKR Capstone. With a background at McKinsey Tripathi also served as Chief Strategy Officer, at Myntra for four years.
Byjus acquired WhiteHat Jr., a coding platform in August 2020 through a $300 million cash deal.
The acquisition provided Karan Bajaj, the founder of WhiteHat Jr. with one of India’s exits in its startup ecosystem. Bajaj continued as CEO of WhiteHat Jr.. He resigned one year after the company was acquired in August 2021.
Trupti Mukker, an executive, at Byjus, was appointed as the CEO of WhiteHat Jr prior to Tripathi assuming the position.
Tripathi is now part of a growing list of executives who have left the world’s valuable ed-tech startup, which is currently facing various challenges. Recent reports state that three senior executives, including Prathyusha Agarwal, Byju’s Chief Business Officer have resigned from the company.
In 2020 WhiteHat Jr faced backlash due to its sales tactics. The company launched a campaign featuring a 12-year-old named Wolf Gupta showcasing his journey to securing a job for Rs 1.2 crore at Google after mastering artificial intelligence (AI) through WhiteHat Jrs programs.
Furthermore, it was reported that WhiteHat Jr. disregarded the guidelines set by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) leading to accusations of making questionable claims.
According to Byju’s FY21 results, WhiteHat Jr. contributed Rs 326.66 crore to revenue. Incurred a loss before tax from operations amounting to Rs 1,548.76 crore, for the company.
Certainly, Byju Raveendran, the co-founder and CEO of Byjus has openly acknowledged the struggles faced by WhiteHat Jr., their acquisition. During a media interview this year Raveendran shared “WhiteHat Jr has been challenging in terms of costs. The main business obstacle we face is finding a solution, for customer acquisition costs.”
Raveendran also mentioned that most of their core businesses are already self-sustaining or profitable. The only area where they are utilizing resources is WhiteHat Jr.
Reports this year suggested that there were discussions within Byjus about potentially shutting down WhiteHat Jr. due to expenditure and difficulties in finding the right market fit for the product.
