Edtech unicorn Byju’s is all set to acquire one of its rivals Toppr in the K-12 (Kindergarten to Class 12) learning segment.
According to media reports, the deal, which is expected to be formally announced soon, would be close to $150 to $160 million.
Sources said the deal will be mostly in cash along with a small portion of equity.
For the Indian ed-tech unicorn Byju's this will be the third major acquisition after it picked up coding platform WhiteHat Jr for $300 million in August 2020 and the $1billion deal to take over brick and mortar test preparation company Aakash Educational Services.
The take over of Toppr signals Byju's dominance of the market whose other two main players are Unacademy and Vedantu.
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Byju's plan for K-12 segment
The two companies have been in talks for the past two months and that a deal could be finalised shortly, reports say. Byju's idea is to establish its hegemony in the ultra-competitive K-12 segment, which is where Toppr had been well established.
The Bangalore-based Byju’s is valued at $12 billion and has been able to raise plenty of funds as the pandemic and lockdown has increased the demand for its online lessons. Byju's, said to be India's second-most valuable startup, is backed by the likes of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Tiger Global Management and Bond Capital, co-founded by Silicon Valley investor Mary Meeker.
The Byju's app caters to students from kindergarten to the 12th grade. Byju's app provides lessons in math and science through video animations and games.
More than 70 million users logged in from over 1,700 cities around the country, Byju's said last September. Of these, over 4.5 million are paid users.
On the other hand, the investors in Toppr include Eight Roads Ventures, Helion Venture Partners, Kaizen Private Equity, Elevation Capital and Alteria Capital.
