Byju’s which is tagged as India’s biggest online education startup is all set to acquire test prep leader Aakash Educational Services Ltd for $1 billion according to sources, as reported by Mint.
Mint reported that the deal will become the largest edtech acquisitions in the world and is said to close in the next two or three months, revealed the unidentified source.
Byju’s was founded by Byju Raveendran, a former teacher and the son of educators, who conceived the smartphone app in 2011. The Banglore based edtech giant is valued at $12 billion and has gained investors attention due to rise in demand of online lessons during the pandemic.
Byju’s is India’s second-most valuable startup is backed by the likes of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Tiger Global Management and Bond Capital, co-founded by Silicon Valley investor Mary Meeker.
Blackstone Group-backed Aakash Educational Services runs Aakash Institute, which has over 200 centers and tutors students to gain entry into the country’s elite engineering and medical schools.
Its student count is over 250,000, according to its website. While online learning startups have thrived, offline tutoring centers have been badly hit by the pandemic, which has closed schools and tutoring centers since March last year.
According to the terms of deal Aakash’s founders, the Chaudhry family, will exit completely, while Blackstone will swap a portion of its 37.5% equity in Aakash for Byju’s stake, as reported by Mint.
