upGrad acquires test-prep platform Exampur

Edtech unicorn upGrad on August 2 said it has acquired Exampur, a test preparation platform for government jobs, in what is its third acquisition in a month. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Recently on July 22, upGrad also acquired online learning platform Harappa Education at a value of Rs 300 crore. A few days earlier, upGrad Rekrut, a subsidiary of the edtech unicorn, acquired recruitment and staffing firm Wolves India but did not disclose the deal amount.

upGrad's acquisition spree comes at a time when other ed techs such as Unacademy and Vedantu are cutting costs and turning conservative, amidst a larger slowdown in startup funding.

These developments come at the back of Media maven, upGrad co-founder Ronnie Screwvala's remarks on being confident of outlasting peers in the edtech space claiming the founders are building the company differently, in a recent episode of CNN-News18 show Bits to Billions.

The latest of upGrad's acquisitions, Exampur, was founded in 2018 by Vivek Kumar and Vardan Gandhi.

The Noida-based company offers over 200 test-prep courses for government jobs where most of the content is delivered through the company's more than 27 YouTube channels, upGrad said in a statement. Exampur has a user base of over 10 million students, it added.

"The number of educated candidates in India is growing exponentially yet they are unemployed. Hence, we want our learners to walk that extra mile to understand the key to cracking such competitive exams. We look forward to making Exampur a household name and with upGrad, we see it reaching there really fast," said Kumar and Gandhi, in a joint statement.

The founders also said that Exampur had created a hybrid learning model through its digital presence.

upGrad's Managing Director and co-founder Mayank Kumar had said that the unicorn was insulated from the slowdown in the Indian edtech sector, on Bits to Billions. Kumar had also said upGrad was looking to hire people in various roles as demand continued to be strong.