Edtech giant Byju’s announced on Tuesday that it has acquired online exam preparation platform Gradeup for an undisclosed amount. This fresh acquisition will strengthen Byju’s presence in the exam-preparation category. The company said that the exam preparation platform will be rebranded as Byju’s Exam Prep and will cater to over 150 exams across 25 categories covering government jobs and and PG entrance exams such as IAS, GATE, CAT, bank PO/ clerk, defence and UGC-NET.
Chief Executive Officer Byju Raveendran said, “Our focus has always been on ensuring that every learner has access to the highest quality of teachers and content to help them learn better.” Raveendran added that Gradeup has already proved its mettle and the edtech giant now aims to bring its strengths and expertise together for personalised learning experiences.
Shobhit Bhatnagar, Chief Executive Officer of Gradeup said that the exam preparation platform will accelerate its growth and expand its reach across the country. "Further, we will leverage their strengths in content to deepen our current product offering and broaden our coverage of exams,” said Bhatnagar.
Gradeup was established in 2015 and has helped over 25 million students prepare for various exams.
This deal comes amid a boom of the edtech space in India as COVID-19 pandemic forced people to stay indoors. Offline classes were conducted online to ensure that students continue with their learning.
Buoyed by the pandemic demand, Byju’s has been on an acquisition spree. It acquired Aakash Educational Services in April for $1 billion, Great Learning for $600 million in July, and Epic for $500 million earlier this year.
Previously, Byju''s had acquired TutorVista and Edurite from Pearson in 2017, Osmo (2019), and coding training platform WhiteHat Jr for $300 million last year.
Byju’s has over 100 million registered students and 6.5 million paid subscribers.
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