The online exam preparation platform will be rebranded as Byju’s Exam Prep and will cater to students
The world’s most valuable Ed-tech company Byju’s, with a valuation of $16.5 billion, said it has acquired Gradeup, one of India’s largest online exam preparation platform. The value of the deal was not revealed by the company.
This partnership will bolster Byju’s presence in the fast-growing online competitive examination preparation category along with harnessing pedagogy and student reach of the online exam preparation platform, Gradeup. To tap the country’s $180 billion education sector, it would help the firm increase its lead over its competitors such as Unacademy, Simplilearn, UpGrad, Amazon Academy, and traditional education institutes.
To prepare for over 150 exams over 25 exam categories, the online exam preparation platform will be rebranded as Byju’s Exam Prep and will cater to students. It would be covering government jobs and PG entrance exams such as IAS, GATE, CAT, Bank PO/Clerk, Defence, and UGC-NET.
“With the online exam preparation platform on board, we will be able to further scale and expand our test-prep offerings in postgraduate level exams”, said Byju Raveendran, founder, and CEO, Byju’s. “Gradeup, the online exam preparation platform has already proved its mettle and we are excited to join forces with the seasoned team. We aim to bring our complementary strengths and expertise together to create engaging and personalised learning experiences”.
Shobhit Bhatnagar, CEO of the online exam preparation platform said, the firm has built a highly specialised offering for students preparing for competitive exams by combining live classes, assessments, and quality study material.
“Together with Byju’s, we will accelerate our growth and expand our reach across the country”, said Bhatnagar. “Further, we will leverage their strengths in content to deepen our current product offering and broaden our coverage of exams”.
Byju’s has over 100 million registered students and 6.5 million paid subscribers. The online exam preparation platform coming on board will help the firm scale up in the test preparation segment further with Aakash Educational Services Ltd. already being a part of Byju’s since May 2021, offering its highly effective learning ecosystem. Additionally, the firm said, with a wide array of test prep classes and offerings to choose from, the students will have access to high quality, personalised and holistic learning experience.
As the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of online education, Byju’s is on an acquisition spree in India and globally. Students and professionals are looking to upgrade their skills, while schools and offices remain shut. The start-up has now acquired about seven companies in India and the US this year and spent more than $2 billion in the past six months on these acquisitions, according to sources. The inorganic route is expected to help Bengaluru-based Byju’s to dominate the Ed-tech market.
Some of these deals include the $1 billion buy of New Delhi-based Aakash Educational Services (AESL) in April and the $600 million acquisition of Singapore-headquartered Great Learning, a leading global player in professional and higher educations.
Last month, Byju’s acquired US-based digital reading platform Epic for $500 million. In August last year, Byju’s acquired Mumbai-based coding start-up WhiteHat Jr for $300 million. In 2019, Byju’s bought US-based educational gaming company Osmo for $120 million in a stock-and-cash deal. Byju’s is aiming to become one of the largest players in the space in the US, with a target to hit revenues of $1 billion in the next three years.
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