India’s edtech major Byju’s is acquiring Aakash Educational Services Ltd. in an estimated $950-million cash-and-stock deal, according to ET report.
“Post the transaction, Blackstone Group and Aakash Institute’s founders will hold a minority stake in Byju’s at a valuation of about $13 billion, founder Byju Raveendran said. “We will integrate Aakash’s expertise in test prep with our content and tech capabilities and will invest further capital into Aakash once the integration is done,” he added.
EY was the exclusive financial adviser for Byju’s for the Aakash deal, while Phoenix Advisors was the exclusive advisor for Aakash Educational Services.
Most recently, Byju’s raised $460 million in a Series F funding round at a valuation of $13 billion. “We will continue to expand the offline footprint and Aakash will be the front end of all our test prep initiatives,” Raveendran said.
In 2019, Blackstone picked up 37.5% stake in Aakash Educational Services, valuing it at around $500 million.
“The acquisition will help the company cross the billion-dollar mark in revenues in the next financial year. We are looking at closing the next year at $1.2-1.3 billion in revenues,” Raveendran said. The company’s current revenue run rate is around $800 million.
In 2019, Byju’s acquired US-based Osmo, a maker of educational games, for $120 million. “Today, Osmo is delivering a 4.5x growth and is clocking around $115 million in revenues and is expected to close FY22 at $200 million,” Raveendran said.
The company is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Qatar Investment Authority, Owl Ventures, General Atlantic, Tiger Global, Tencent, Verlinvest and Sofina.
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