BYJU’S Senior Vice President Cherian Thomas Resigns, to Lead US-Based Firm Next

BYJU’S Senior Vice President for international business Cherian Thomas has resigned from the company and will now helm US-based Impending. 

As the CEO, Thomas will focus on building and scaling the product portfolio, while strengthening and growing a global talent pool, Impending Inc said in a statement.

A mail sent to BYJU’S did not elicit any response.

A source at BYJU’S confirmed Thomas’ departure, but did not comment on his successor.

“We are hugely excited to have Cherian Thomas on board. We share a vision of creating inspired apps with pop culture potential without compromise and have convinced each other that we are going to make it happen together,” Impending co-founder Phill Ryu said.

Thomas, touted to be the architect behind BYJU’s American expansion, was also responsible for spearheading the business of Osmo (as its CEO), a BYJU’S subsidiary, with a revenue of over $100 million (nearly Rs. 830 crore) in FY21, according to the release.

He was the first international employee at BYJU’S back in 2017 and was credited with building the international organisation, according to the statement.

Thomas co-founded food blogging platform Cucumbertown in 2012, having sold the VC-backed startup to Japanese conglomerate Cookpad in 2016. He was also one of the earliest employees at gaming company Zynga, having worked with them until their IPO in 2011.

Impending is the studio behind applications like video games Heads Up and Here Kitty, and listing app Clear.