Giant edtech deal Byju's buys Aakash for Rs 7,300 crore
Byju's has acquired test-prep leader Aakash Educational Services for nearly $1 billion (about Rs 7,300 crore) as India's biggest online education startup looks to build its position in the brick and mortar segment.
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New Delhi: Byju's has acquired test-prep leader Aakash Educational Services for nearly $1 billion (about Rs 7,300 crore) as India's biggest online education startup looks to build its position in the brick and mortar segment.
The acquisition is Byju's biggest and one of the largest ed-tech deals in the world. Post the transaction, Blackstone Group and Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL) founders will hold a minority stake in Byju's, which is valued at about $13 billion.
Byju's, the most valued ed-tech startup in the country, is backed by marquee investors like Mary Meeker, Yuri Milner, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Tencent, Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global and others. It is estimated to have raised over $2 billion in funding to date. According to sources, Byju's is also in talks to raise an additional $600-700 million in funding that will help in further growth acceleration.
In the past, Byju's had acquired TutorVista and Edurite (from Pearson in 2017) and Osmo in 2019. Last year, the General Atlantic-backed company had bought coding training platform WhiteHat Jr for $300 million.
