Aakash CFO Vipan Joshi quits; leadership churn deepens as rights issue proceeds
Bengaluru: Vipan Joshi, chief financial officer of Aakash Educational Services Ltd, resigned with effect from October 31, two people aware of the development said, adding to the loss of leadership as the company continues to resolve a rights issue. Joshi was said to have submitted his resignation about six months ago.
Aakash’s spokesperson confirmed Joshi’s resignation in a telephone interview on Tuesday. Mint He reached out to Joshi through calls and text messages but he did not respond.
In a post on LinkedIn a week ago, Joshi said he was “taking some time to reflect” as he “turns the page on a new chapter in my career” after over nine years at Aakash. He said he was moving “forward to explore new horizons.”
Before joining Aakash in 2016, Joshi held finance leadership roles at Blinkit (formerly Grofers) and Snapdeal. He then moved to take over as CFO of Aakash in October 2022.
His exit comes two months after CEO Deepak Mehrotra resigned in August, nearly 16 months after his appointment in April 2024. Mehrotra was replaced by Chandra Sekhar Reddy Garisa as managing director and CEO effective August 19. Garisa last Dr. He served as managing director of Claypond Capital, Ranjan Pai’s family investment office.
Aakash, once among Byju’s most valuable acquisitions with a cash and stock deal worth around $950 million, has weathered a turbulent period in recent months. Ranjan Pai’s Manipal group is now counted as the majority shareholder and Pai has converted a $300 million debt investment into around 40% equity.
Pai later tried to increase his stake by purchasing shares of Blackstone, according to reports earlier this year. The transaction was not completed due to disagreement in the board of directors over proposed changes to Aakash’s articles of association, which were introduced at the EGM last year. Blackstone opposed Aakash’s effort to amend the articles of association, arguing that the changes would erode the rights of minority shareholders.
rights issue
Apart from this, Aakash’s proposed rights issue faced a legal pushback earlier this year, but the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed legal challenges from Byju’s creditors and other interested parties, paving the way for Aakash to proceed with a fresh round of fundraising.
GLAS Trust, the creditor of Byju’s parent Think & Learn, and Shailendra Ajmera of Byju’s resolution specialist EY had objected to the rights issue in October. However, the National Company Law Tribunal of Bengaluru refused to grant them interim relief.
On October 28, the parties moved the bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, Chennai; it too rejected GLAS’s application on the grounds that the board had the legal right to raise capital to meet business needs.
Aakash has also faced other turbulence, including the layoff of 80-100 employees in September last year, according to the startup news platform entrackr.
The company has not filed its annual reports for FY24 and FY25. Registrar of Companies data shows FY22 revenue up 44% ₹1,421 crore ₹983 crore in FY21, net profit increased to 2020 ₹79.5 crore ₹43.6 crore.
Aakash competes with Allen, FIITJEE, Bansal Classes and Unacademy, among others. In interviews held in January, then-CEO Mehrotra said that the company wanted to give a raise regarding this issue. ₹500 crore. he said PTI Aakash plans to invest in October 2024 ₹100 crore in two years to rebuild and scale Aakash Digital.
