Byju’s acquires Great Learning for USD 600 million

Edtech main Byju’s on Monday mentioned it has acquired Singapore-headquartered Great Learning for USD 600 million (about Rs 4,466 crore), and can make investments an extra USD 400 million to strengthen its place within the skilled and better training phase.
The improvement comes simply days after Byju’s had introduced the acquisition of US-based digital studying platform Epic for USD 500 million (round Rs 3,729.8 crore), and an extra USD 1 billion (about Rs 7,459.7 crore) funding within the North American market.
Byju’s has acquired Great Learning – a worldwide participant within the skilled and better training phase – in a transaction valued at USD 600 million comprising money, inventory and earnout, an announcement mentioned.
Byju’s, which has 100 million registered college students on its flagship studying app, has earmarked an extra USD 400 million of funding into this phase in the direction of accelerating Great Learning’s progress, it added.

“The acquisition marks Byju’s strong push into the professional upskilling and life-long learning space globally with a total commitment of USD 1 billion, expanding its offerings beyond the K-12 and test prep segments, and further accelerating the company’s growth plans,” it mentioned.
Great Learning will proceed to function as an unbiased unit in Byju’s group beneath the management of its founder and CEO Mohan Lakhamraju and co-founders Hari Nair and Arjun Nair.
“With this substantial investment, Great Learning will accelerate its organic and inorganic growth in India and across global markets and expand its high-quality, transformational offerings to learners everywhere,” it famous.
The partnership brings collectively Byju’s know-how and content material experience with Great Learning’s skilled programs at a big time when the COVID-19 pandemic and evolving trade dynamics have inspired professionals in India and globally to upskill themselves.
“Empowering learners with the appropriate futuristic expertise kinds a basic a part of our imaginative and prescient. Great Learning is a globally recognised and reputed skilled training firm and this partnership expands our attain into this new phase.
“We are united in our mission to provide professionals with high-quality and industry-relevant learning programs in this competitive global economy. With our combined strength, we aim to become a global market leader in this segment,” Byju’s founder and CEO Byju Raveendran mentioned.
Founded in 2013, Great studying, a boot-strapped firm, has delivered over 60 million hours of studying to 1.5 million learners from over 170 international locations.
It leverages a curated community of over 2,800 trade professional mentors and has collaborated with universities globally, together with Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), McCombs School of Business – the University of Texas at Austin and others to supply levels, diplomas and certificates programmes.
Great Learning and its groups are primarily based out of Singapore, the US and India.
“Together with Byju’s, we will speed up our progress in the direction of this aim and meet the rising want for upskilling each in India and around the globe.
“Further, as higher education moves online, we will leverage our joint strengths in technology, content, pedagogy and instructors to create unparalleled learning opportunities at affordable prices for everyone,” Lakhamraju mentioned.
Launched in 2015, Byju’s has 6.5 million annual paid subscriptions, and an annual renewal price of 86 per cent.
The edtech house has seen robust progress globally, together with in India, with the COVID-19 pandemic serving as an inflection level. Many offline courses went on-line to make sure continuity of training whereas adhering to social distancing norms.
Several gamers have raised recent funding from traders, together with consolidation as seen with offers like Unacademy buying PrepLadder and Byju’s acquisition of Aakash Educational Services.
Byju’s is estimated to have raised about USD 1.5 billion since April final yr in a number of tranches. Byju’s (Think & Learn Pvt Ltd) is backed by marquee traders, together with General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Naspers, Silver Lake and Tiger Global.

The firm has additionally been aggressively buying corporations to bolster its presence throughout classes. In the previous, Byju’s had acquired TutorVista and Edurite (from Pearson in 2017) and Osmo in 2019.
Last yr, the corporate had purchased the coding coaching platform WhiteHat Jr for USD 300 million and in April this yr, it acquired Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL) to bolster its presence within the check preparation phase within the nation.