NEW DELHI: BYJU's, the world's most valuable edtech company, drew a lot of criticism after the announcement of football superstar lionel Messi as their global brand ambassador as the company fired a lot of its employees lately. Now, Byju Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath, the founders of BYJU's, have come forward with an explanation.

“The deal with Messi is not a typical sponsorship deal. It is a partnership to create social impact. It was something that we signed 6 months back. It is foolish for people to think that we will pay money for Messi after letting people go,” Byju said.

Divya Gokulnath, the co-founder of Baijus, also responded to the controversy. Divya explained that the deal with Messi is not a sponsorship but a social partnership.

Messi has been appointed as the brand ambassador of BYJU's' social initiative 'Education for All'. Messi's picture of him wearing a Byjus jersey and holding the Qatar World Cup match ball was released shortly after the annoucement. BYJU's is also the official sponsor of the World Cup in Qatar.