Edtech startup Byju’s is in advanced talks to acquire two new companies for a combined deal of almost $400 million, according to a report in Entrackr. “Byju’s is in advanced-stage talks to acquire the upskilling platform Great Learning and test prep firm Gradeup,” a source told Entrackr.
Byju’s is likely to spend $330-350 million to acquire Great Learning and $40-50 million for Gradeup, according to sources.
Great Learning is an eight-year-old bootstrapped startup headquartered in Gurugram. It offers programs in the areas of AI, data science, machine learning, analytics, cloud computing, cybersecurity.
Regulatory filings indicate that the company had operating revenue of Rs 227.60 crore in FY20 with an expense of Rs 239.82 crore, while its losses stood at Rs 8.77 crore during FY20.
Gradeup was founded in 2015 by Shobhit Bhatnagar, Sanjeev Kumar, and Vibhu Bhushan. It helps students prepare for competitive exams like UPSC, JEE, CAT, banks, railways among others. The company raised $10 million from Times Internet in 2019. Its net revenue was Rs 24 crore in FY20 while net loss stood at Rs 33 crore in the fiscal year.
Byju’s, Great Learning and Gradeup are yet to comment officially.
Byju’s has been on an acquisition spree lately, having acquired Whitehat Jr., Aakash Educational Services, Scholr in the last 12 months. It is also in the final stage of acquiring Toppr in a $150 million deal.
Byju’s is also on course to become India’s most valuable startup as it is in the process of raising $150 million from UBS Group AG at a valuation of nearly $16.5 billion. This investment will take Byju’s valuation past that of Paytm, which was last valued at $16 billion.
Byju’s says it has added 25 million new students to its platform from March 2020 to November 2020, thereby propelling its user base to 75 million.