Ali Hasan
This is some massive news in terms of acquisition as Byju’s is all set to acquire Aakash Educational Services for a whopping $1 billion. It may be the world’s largest EdTech deal till date. The deal will be sealed in two or three months according to Bloomberg.
Byju’s is valued at $12 billion and is aggressively trying to expand itself into every major corner of the EdTech industry. Aakash Institute is backed by Blackstone Partners. Aakash Institutes with more than 200 physical centers across the country tutors students to gain entry into India’s elite engineering and medical schools. These institutes have over 2,50,000 students.
Post the pandemic, offline or physical learning centers including schools and coaching institutes have taken a hit, while online classes have thrived. According to the Bloomberg report, the Chaudhry family, founders of Aakash will completely exit while Blackstone will swap a portion of its 37.5% equity in Aakash for Byju’s stake.
Byju’s has more than 70 million users logged in from over 1,700 cities around the country, Byju’s said last September when it announced a fundraiser. Of these, over 4.5 million are paid users. It’s targeting doubling its revenues to $1 billion in the current financial year ending in March 2021.
Let’s see what happens to the EdTech industry after this big acquisition.
