upGrad appoints ex-Byju's CBO Arjun Mohan as CEO (India)

upGrad, India’s leading online higher education company, has brought on board Arjun Mohan, ex-Byju’s Chief Business Officer (CBO), as CEO (India) for the company. Arjun brings over a decade of experience in the edtech sector and was one of the early employees of Think & Learn Pvt Ltd, commonly known as Byju’s.

Arjun started his career in Byju’s as a teacher and moved up the ranks into a leadership role. He ran most of the Sales and Marketing in the company’s early years and was until recently running its International Business. He held several leadership positions throughout his tenure including Vice President, Marketing, and most recently, Chief Business Officer (CBO).

Prior to Byju’s, Arjun drove Sales and Operations at Titan Industries and did his stints with Tata Motors, Tata Realty And Infrastructure Ltd. (TRIL) and Sir Dorabji Tata and Allied Trusts. He started his career as a Tata Administrative Services Manager after graduating from IIM Kozhikode with Gold Medal.

The position of the CEO - India at upGrad was unoccupied since its inception.

On welcoming the new leader at the helm of the company, Mayank Kumar, Co-Founder & MD, upGrad, said, “Arjun brings with him a rich understanding of the online education space, the evolving consumer landscape and keen business acumen. I’m glad to have him on board as upGrad establishes a leadership position in the 50M+ working professional ecosystem in India. We have only scratched the surface of this large addressable market and with Arjun coming on board, I am certain that we will push towards further cementing our leadership position in the online higher education market.”

Talking about his new role, Arjun Mohan stated, “upGrad has charted an exciting growth journey since its inception. There is a solid product and an incredible team who are committed to bringing the best on the table, contributing towards the company’s success. From where I see, there is a huge potential in the online higher education space, and upGrad with its unique proposition is set to win the market. Being part of the core team that drove exponential business growth in my previous organization, I am confident of leveraging my experience to further accelerate upGrad’s growth journey.”

When asked about strengthening the leadership team amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayank said, “The current environment is a net positive for online education. We have witnessed a rise in our leads with a spike of 50%, more than the usual. As we march forward and create new business benchmarks, we are excited to introduce the dynamic changes into our system to revitalize our success story.”