Indian edtech unicorn, BYJU’s, is now doubling down on the competitive exam preparations segment, as it acquired online test preparation platform, Gradeup on Tuesday.
The company which already had a presence in Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) will be going deeper into the exam preparation space and expanding its offering across 150 exams in 25 categories.
This marks the eight acquisition for BYJU’s in 2021, which has already shelled out more than $2.2 billion in acquisitions, this year alone.
Earlier this year, BYJU’s acquired Aakash Educational Services Ltd. for a whopping $950 million, making it one of the most expensive acquisitions in Indian edtech till date. Apart from acquiring an omni-channel play, the Aakaash acquisition was also in line for BYJU’s to double down on the competitive exam segment.
It subsequently also acquired Great Learning for $600 million to mark its entry into the professional upskilling space and spent another $500 million to acquire US-based digital reading platform Epic.
Post the acquisition, BYJU’s will be rebranding Gradeup to BYJU’S Exam Prep and offer test prepration across segments including post-graduate entrance exams, Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Graduate Aptitude Test (GATE), Common Admission Test (CAT) among others.
“Our focus has always been on ensuring that every learner has access to the highest quality of teachers and content to help them learn better. With Gradeup on board, we will be able to further scale and expand our test-prep offerings in postgraduate level exams. Gradeup 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,” said Byju Raveendran, founder, and chief executive, BYJU’s.
At present, BYJU’s has over 100 million registered students and 6.5 million paid subscribers.
“By combining live classes, assessments, and quality study material, we have built a highly specialised offering for students preparing for competitive exams. Together with BYJU’s, we will accelerate our growth and expand our reach across the country. Further, we will leverage their strengths in content to deepen our current product offering and broaden our coverage of exams,” said Shobhit Bhatnagar, chief executive officer, Gradeup.
Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd, the parent brand of BYJU’s recently reported ₹2,380 crore income in FY’20, as compared to ₹1,305 crore in the previous fiscal year (FY'19).
However, the company’s growth came on the back of a major rise in consolidated losses. Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd reported a consolidated loss worth ₹262 crore in FY’20, a 30-fold increase from ₹8.82 crore in FY19.
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