India’s largest online education startup Byju’s is about to acquire Aakash Educational Services Pvt Ltd in a $1 billion deal. The companies will close the deal in the next two to three months. Byju’s and Aakash Educational Services deal will be one of the largest edtech acquisitions deal in history.
Backed by Blackstone Group Inc., Aakash Educational Services runs 200 coaching centers with the name Aakash Institute. It provides training to over 250,000 students for engineering and medical entrance exam.
In the deal, the founder of Aakash Educational Services, the Chaudhry family, will exit completely. While Blackstone Group will swap some of its 37.5% stake in Aakash for Byju’s stake. However, Byju’s and Aakash Educational Services have not given any official confirmation of the deal.
Byju’s is an Indian edtech startup founded by Byju Raveendran in 2011. The company has launched an app to provide online video-based learning programs for students from class 1 to 12. The Byju’s app also offers content for competitive and international exams such as IIT-JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS, GRE and GMAT.
The Byju’s app has more than 70 million users, of which 4.5 million are paid subscribers. Byju’s subscribers have increased due to the COVID-19 outbreak that has caused students to shift from traditional methods to online learning methods.
In August, Byju’s acquired Whitehat Junior, a startup that provides coding skills to kids, in a $300 million all-cash deal. Recently, Byju’s has raised $200 million in a funding round which has lifted the company’s valuation to $12 billion.
