Online learning app and India’s most valuable startup Byju’s on Monday said it has bought after-school learning app Toppr and upskilling platform Great Learning in a cash and equity deal. With this, the edtech unicorn has acquired six startups this year only taking its total acquisition count to 15.
Byju’s is expected to shell out $600 million to buy Great Learning and another $150 million for the acquisition of Toppr, Livemint quoted an individual close to the discussions as saying.
Great Learning’s acquisition will help the edtech company expand its offerings beyond the K12 (kindergarten to 12th grade) and test prep segments into the professional upskilling space, which already sees heavy competition from upGrad and Blackstone-backed Simplilearn.
The company has also earmarked an additional USD 400 million of investment in the professional and higher education segment to accelerate Great Learning”s growth, a statement said.
“The acquisition marks BYJU”S strong push into the professional upskilling and life-long learning space globally with a total commitment of USD 1 billion, expanding its offerings beyond the K12 and test prep segments, and further accelerating the company”s growth plans,” it added.
The latest deal comes a week after Byju’s acquired US-based reading platform Epic for $500 million, as part of which it also announced a $1 billion investment in North America, supposedly one of its biggest markets.
Byju’s recently raised USD 1.5 billion from UBS Group, Abu Dhabi sovereign fund ADQ, and Blackstone Group LP among others, at a valuation of $16.5 billion, making it the highest valued Indian startup, as it overtook initial public offering (IPO)-bound Paytm’s $16 billion valuation. According to data from CB Insights, Byju’s is now the 11th most valuable startup in the world. With this, Byju’s has shelled out more than $2.2 billion in acquiring complementary businesses in 2021 alone.
