WhiteHat Jr founder exits the edtech firm a year after acquisition by Byju’s

Karan Bajaj, the founder and CEO of Indian coding startup WhiteHat Jr, has left the company a year after it was acquired by edtech titan Byju’s in a US$350 million deal.

Former WhiteHat Jr CEO Karan Bajaj / Photo credit: Karan Bajaj

In a LinkedIn post, Bajaj said he plans to move on to new pastures after having helmed WhiteHat Jr since 2018. Trupti Mukker, Bajaj’s classmate from the Indian Institute of Management, will be taking over as the platform’s CEO.

“I know her competent, compassionate leadership will enable thousands of women to enter the mainstream workforce as WhiteHat Jr/Byju’s FutureSchool expands into new countries and courses,” Bajaj said with respect to Mukker’s appointment.

In an internal email seen by Moneycontrol, Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran said that the company’s interactive FutureSchool now enables “hundreds of thousands” of learners to learn from over 11,000 teachers.

“While I wish he would’ve stayed longer, Karan is a force of nature and accustomed to making unconventional choices, as you all know, and I wish him only the best for what will surely be an exciting path ahead,” Raveendran said.

Byju’s announced its acquisition of WhiteHat Jr in August last year, as the Bengaluru-based edtech major looked to expand its offerings in India and bolster its US expansion plans. After the acquisition, the decacorn said it would continue to invest in WhiteHat Jr’s technology.