In a big deal in the hot and happening edtech sector, Byju's has acquired coding edtech startup WhiteHat Jr. for $300 million. Byju's is of course the country's leading edtech unicorn.
Byjus's is on an acquisition spree, and this is its fifth, and its largest, acquisition to date. It had last acquired Osmo, a maker of educational games, for $120 million.
WhiteHat Jr is India’s second largest ed-tech company at a revenue run rate of $150 Million
With coding fast emerging as a key skill for the future, this integration is expected to help Byju's further expand its offerings in India and elsewhere. Specifically, this acquisition will also accelerate its US expansion plans. As it happens, the Indian government has laid emphasis on skills such as coding from early classes with the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
After the acquisition, Byjus's said in a press release, that it would "make significant investments in WhiteHat Jr’s technology platform, product innovation while expanding the teacher base to cater to demand from new markets."
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Byju's plans for going global?
WhiteHat Jr. Founder, Karan Bajaj, will continue to lead and scale this business in India and the US.
Karan Bajaj, Founder, WhiteHat Jr.“Technology, said "we had set out to create a coding curriculum that was being delivered live and connected students and teachers like never before. Integration with a visionary company such as Byju's will help take this idea to new heights and help unleash the remarkable creative potential of kids at a globalscale.”
“WhiteHat Jr is the leader in the live online coding space. Karan has proven his mettle as an exceptional founder and the credit goes to him and his team for creating coding programs that are loved by kids. Under his leadership the company has achieved phenomenal growth in India and the US in a short span of time.” said Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO, Byju's.
WhiteHat Jr had recently announced its plans to expand to other global markets like Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) after a stellar growth in the US for its one-to-one online coding classes. After launching their courses in the US, since February this year, the company is growing at more than 100% MoM in the country.
WhiteHat Jr. helps kids aged 6 to 14 years build commercial-ready games, animations and apps online using the fundamentals of coding. WhiteHat Jr. offers four levels of courses.
This acquisition may help Byju's fructify its plans for going global.
For its part, Byju's, with 64 million students cumulatively learning from the app, 4.2 million annual paid subscriptions and an annual renewal rate of 85%, has witnessed phenomenal growth.
Byju's has doubled its revenue from Rs 1430 crore to Rs 2800 crore in FY 19-20. Since the lockdown, Byju's has seen over 15 million new students start learning from its platform. Last month alone, the company reported a revenue of Rs 500 crore.
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