UPGRAD ACQUIRES IMPARTUS IN ₹150-CRORE DEAL

BENGALURU: Online education platform upgrad has acquired Impartus, a video-learning solutions provider, for ₹150 crore, in a cash and stocks deal as it looks to distribute its courses to colleges and other educational institutions. The acquisition will give an exit to Impartus’ existing investor Kaizen, which had invested $4.1 million in the startup in 2015.

Almost ₹50 crore of the proceeds will be used as a further investment to scale the Impartus platform this fiscal year.

Post the acquisition, Impartus will be rebranded as upgrad Campus, which will focus on providing learning tools to higher education institutions and colleges.

Impartus co-founder Amit Mahensaria will take over as chief executive of upgrad Campus, and the subsidiary will continue to operate independently.

Impartus currently provides a video-learning platform, helping colleges and other educational institutions to shift to virtual classes. It also allows students to record class lectures and review supplementary course material at any time.

Through the acquisition, upgrad, which predominantly focuses on working professionals, now plans to tap a younger user base and distribute its upskilling courses on Impartus’ video-learning platform.

The acquisition will also provide upgrad access to 600,000 students and 280 higher educational institutions in the country. The firm now plans to add at least 50,000 new students for its courses this fiscal through the acquisition. upgrad Campus looks to clock ₹85 crore in revenue by fiscal-end 2022.