FORBES.COM NOVEMBER 30, 20 1922
FRONTRUNNERINDIA^ BY^ NAAZNEEN^ KARMALI^ (INTRO)AND^ ANURAGHUNATHAN^(RICHEST^ BOX).^30 UNDER30BYALEXANDRA^ WILSONGAYATRI^ GANJUFOR^ FORBES^ ASIA;^ ILLUSTRATIONSBYAARON^SACCO^The son of teachers, Byju Raveendran realized
he had a knack for education as an eighth-grade
math whiz tutoring 11th- and 12th-graders
ahead of their exams. Today, at 38, he (along
with his family) is worth $1.9 billion, thanks to
his fast-growing edtech company, Byju’s. The
startup, which he founded in 2006 and which
he says is profi table, raised $150 million earlier
this year in a funding round that valued the
business at $5.5 billion. Altogether, it has raised
roughly $1 billion—more than any other edtech
startup worldwide—from investors such as
Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative,
U.S. venture fi rm Sequoia and China’s internet-
services giant Tencent. Byju’s already has 2.8
million paying K–12 students signed up for
its math-and-science tutoring app; in June, it
launched a cobranded app with Disney aimed
at India’s 6- to 8-year-olds. Says Raveendran
of his company: “It’s a passion which ended up
becoming a business.”TAP FOR
TEACHER
Billionaires
FORBES.COMThe Haute List
BILLIONAIRE BUNGALOW
The late Paul Allen had many homes,
including this 21,000-square-foot
mansion with seven bedrooms and
13 bathrooms in Atherton, California—
recently listed for $41.5 million. Among
your neighbors will be Sergey Brin and
Meg Whitman; perhaps Steph Curry
will come over to shoot hoops. And,
yes, it has lots of windows.SECURITY
GUARDS
Patrolling the digital universe with the
Forbes 30 Under 30, in 30 words or less.30 Under 30
Alexandre Rebert
COFOUNDER, FORALLSECURE | 29
This “white-hat” hacker and his cohorts get
paid to try to break into the networks of
behemoths like the Defense Department
in order to pinpoint security fl aws.George Avetisov
COFOUNDER, HYPR | 29
No one can remember
dozens of passwords,
so this Georgian
immigrant is replacing
them with biometrics
like fi ngerprints. Hypr
boasts 25 million
users and Samsung,
MasterCard, T-Mobile,
Aetna as clients.Robert Lee
FOUNDER, DRAGOS
SECURITY | 30
Lee is a former
NSA spook who
specializes in
protecting the cyber-
infrastructure of
critical targets like
power plants and oil
refi neries. Backed
by $55 million in
venture capital.INDIA’S
100 RICHEST
It was a challenging
year for India’s
wealthiest. Their
combined worth
dropped 8%, to $452
billion. Still, some
fared well. Mukesh
Ambani came in
at No. 1 for the
12th straight year.
Infrastructure tycoon
Gautam Adani
jumped eight spots to
No. 2; banker Uday
Kotak moved into the
top fi ve for the fi rst
time. Six newcomers
made the list as well.- MUKESH AMBANI
$51.4 bil S
Oil and gas,
petrochemicals - GAUTAM ADANI
$15.7 bil S
Infrastructure - HINDUJA FAMILY
$15.6 bil T
Diversifi ed - PALLONJI MISTRY
$15 bil T
Construction - UDAY KOTAK
$14.8 bil S
Banking
Unlike on the Forbes Billionaires list, the net worths of India’s 100 Richest include shares held
by extended family members.
Public fortunes were calculated based on stock prices and exchange rates as of September 27.