Byju’s takes over Gradeup in its eighth acquisition of the year

BENGALURU: Byju’s on Tuesday acquired online test preparation platform Gradeup, its eighth acquisition this calendar year, as India’s most valuable unicorn doubles down on the market for competitive examinations.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The edtech firm, which already has a presence in Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), plans to venture deeper into the examination preparation space and expand its offerings across 150 examinations in 25 categories.

Byju’s has been on an acquisition spree, having spent more than $2.2 billion in acquisitions this year alone.

Earlier this year, the company acquired omni-channel play Aakash Educational Services Ltd for $950 million, making it one of the most expensive acquisitions in Indian edtech till date. The Aakash deal was also in sync with Byju’s aim of boosting its presence in the competitive examination segment.

It subsequently acquired Great Learning for $600 million to mark its entry into the professional upskilling space and spent another $500 million to buy Us-based digital reading platform Epic.

Byju’s will rebrand Gradeup to Byju’s Exam Prep and offer test preparations across segments, including post-graduate entrance exams, the civil services examination, the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering, and the Common Admission Test. “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-preparation offerings for postgraduate level examinations. Gradeup has already proved its mettle. We aim to bring our complementary strengths and expertise together to create engaging and personalised learning experiences,” said Byju Raveendran, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Byju’s.

Byju’s currently has more than 100 million registered students and 6.5 million paid subscribers.

“By combining live classes, assessments and quality study material, we have built a highly specialized offering for students preparing for competitive examinations. 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 examinations,” said Shobhit Bhatnagar, CEO, Gradeup.

Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd, the parent of Byju’s, recently reported consolidated revenue of ₹2,380 crore in FY20, up from ₹1,305 crore in the previous financial year. Consolidated net loss, however, jumped nearly 30 times to ₹262 crore from ₹8.82 crore in the same period.