Unacademy acquires PrepLadder for $50 million

Edtech platform Unacademy, backed by Facebook and Sequoia, has acquired PrepLadder, a postgraduate medical entrance exam preparation platform, for $50 million.

The acquisition of PrepLadder comes even as leading edtech player Byju’s is also reportedly in talks with several local startups to expand its footprint across multiple categories in education.

This is the third acquisition by Unacademy and will strengthen its presence in medical entrance examination categories, such as National Eligibility cum Entrance Test post graduate (NEET PG) and the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination.

Bengaluru-based Unacademy had in March acquired Kreatryx, an online preparation platform for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering and the Engineering Services Exam, as part of its organic growth strategy.

In October 2018, Unacademy had acquired WiFiStudy, an online learning platform on YouTube. The edtech platform did not reveal the acquisition amount and only said that both were cash-and-stock deals.

All the three acquisitions are in alignment with Unacademy’s aim of making education accessible and affordable to all, by working towards building the world’s biggest education platform.

Chandigarh-based PrepLadder’s acquisition will help Unacademy strengthen its position in the test prep market, particularly in the medical entrance examination category.

Edtech companies have been witnessing a surge in usage and adoption, since the covid-19 crisis has led to learning shifting to the online mode.

“At Unacademy, we have been working towards democratizing education and this acquisition of PrepLadder is a step towards achieving that goal,” said Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and chief executive officer, Unacademy.

The aim is to create great educational products, Munjal said, adding that he will invest more money in the growth of PrepLadder.

PrepLadder specializes in medical examinations and provides access to education services and preparation material for medical entrance exams.

The four-year-old startup was founded by Deepanshu Goyal, Vitul Goyal, and Sahil Goyal and was built with the vision to provide affordable and quality education to students preparing for post-graduate medical entrance exams across the country.

The startup has never raised capital from external investors and has more than 80,000 subscribers, said Deepanshu Goyal.

“Unacademy and PrepLadder are working towards the common goal of making quality education accessible to all. We believe that the synergies between both products will create a mark in the industry,” he said.