Edtech | Pixr8 News

Byju’s acquires Aakash Institute for $1 billion

5Apr By AdityaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Byju’s acquires Aakash Institute for $1 billion

As reported earlier by Pixr8 News, Edtech platform Byju's acquires India's leading engineering preparation coaching Akash Institute in a $1 billion cash and stock deal. AESL Managing Director Aakash Chaudhry said, "the transaction with Byju's is 60-65 percent cash and the remaining 35 percent are Byju's equity deal. The overall deal value is close to about USD 1 billion. This will be the largest integration in the education space in India, especially in the startup space. COVID has really opened the gates to online education significantly and going forward, we believe that all kinds of models in education will exist in K-12, test prep, and even in higher education". Blackstone Group and Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL) founders will hold a minority stake in Byju's, which is v...

Online Learning Platform Coursera files for IPO

8Mar By AnkitaNo Comments

Market

Online Learning Platform Coursera files for IPO

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 8th March 2021-- Online learning platform Coursera has filed for an IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. Coursera has applied to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “COUR”. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC will act as lead book-running managers for the proposed offering. As per the IPO filing, Coursera 51 percent revenue came from outside the US. The online learning platform reported a 59 percent revenue increase in 2020 that came from over 77 million registered users. More than 2,000 businesses (including 25 pe...

Vedantu acquires doubt-solving platform Instasolv

22Feb By AnkitaNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Vedantu acquires doubt-solving platform Instasolv

New Delhi, Feb 22, 2021: Ed-tech startup Vedantu has fully acquired Instasolv, a doubt-solving app for students of classes 6 to 12 for science, mathematics. The ed-tech firm, however, did not disclose the financial details of the deal. Earlier in 2020, Vedantu had invested USD 2 million as part of a pre-series A round funding in Instasolv. "Last year we took a strategic decision to invest in Instasolv to strengthen our play in doubt-solving, which is one of the key aspects of learning online. We have seen tremendous potential in Instasolv and share the same mission to democratize education in the country," Vedantu CEO and co-founder Vamsi Krishna said in the statement. This is Vedantu's first acquisition in an education technology company to strengthen its focus in the instant do...

Udemy for Business Surpasses $100 Million Annual Recurring Revenue Milestone

31Oct By AdityaNo Comments

News

Udemy for Business Surpasses $100 Million Annual Recurring Revenue Milestone

SAN FRANCISCO, 31st Oct 2020-- Global platform for online learning Udemy's corporate learning solution, Udemy for Business scaled from $1 million to $100 million annual recurring revenue (ARR) in just five years. On Udemy more than 57,000 instructors teach over 130,000 courses in over 65 languages. Udemy for Business curates 7,000 of the highest-rated courses from the marketplace covering the most in-demand professional skills that employees need to become better subject-matter experts, leaders, and collaborators. “We’ve entered an era of continuous change, and companies and individuals need continuous learning to thrive,” said Stephanie Stapleton, Vice President of Customer Success at Udemy. “The pandemic has only accelerated the global movement toward online learning. We’re thrill...

29Sep By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Lebanon Edtech platform Synkers raises $1.8M in Funding

MENA, 29TH Sept 2020: Lebanon-based Synkers, an educational technology platform that connects learners to highly qualified private teachers, has successfully raised a $1.8M Pre-Series A funding round, led by Dr. Lama and Dalia Al Sulaiman. 500 Startups, Phoenician Funds, ISME Kafalat, Mulcan Investment, Seeders, Crescent Capital, and Dubai Angel Investors also invested in the round. Synkers provide personalised and accessible education by matching every learner with the right tutor or mentor and offer a wide variety of courses, from school subjects and university courses to prep tests and professional skills. All tutors are pre-screened, background-checked, trained, and certified. The platform currently has more than 60,000 learners and 1,000 tutors and mentors. Founded by...

Unacademy Raises $150 Million at $1.5 Billion Valuation

3Sep By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Unacademy Raises $150 Million at $1.5 Billion Valuation

India based Edtech firm Unacademy raises $150 million in funding led by Softbank Vision Fund 2 along with participation from existing investors including Facebook. The fresh fund infusion values Unacademy at $1.5 billion, Unacademy co-founder Gaurav Munjal told Pixr8 News. "Unacademy plans to utilise the funds to launch new products and build a world-class team and organisation. We have recently launched a chess course where Viswanathan Anand (Indian chess grandmaster) gives training. We will innovate and launch programs in several new categories," Munjal said. General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Facebook, and Blume Ventures also participated in the round, the company said in a statement. Unacademy saw close to three-fold jump in its valuation in the lat...

How to Prepare for Online classes in Covid19

24Aug By AdityaNo Comments

BLOGS

How to Prepare for Online classes in Covid19

During Covid19, Online classes have become the most popular segment and all edtech platforms in the world looking to catch this booming space. But for parents and children, it has become more important to know how to navigate an online environment. Online courses allow students to learn whenever, wherever, and however works best for them. They can also present unique challenges. Pixr8 News put together some strategies for success to help ensure students get the most value out of their online classes. Set Goals Students need to have a passion and drive for their chosen area of study. Remind yourself why you chose this field of study. Passion can help maintain discipline with deadlines. Set realistic attainable goals both long and short term. Goals should be specific and measu...

17Jul By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Vedantu raises $100 mn in funding from Coatue

New Delhi, 17th July 2020: Online live tutoring platform Vedantu raises $100 million (about ₹752 crores) in funding, led by US-based investment firm Coatue. The Series D round also saw participation from existing investors as well including Tiger Global Management, Accel Partners, Omidyar Network, TAL, and WestBridge Capital. Vedantu's total fundraising has crossed USD 200 million. The latest $100 million funding round pushed Vedantu's valuation to USD 600 million. Rahul Kishore, managing director of Coatue, will also join Vedantu's board, it added. Vedantu said the latest infusion has made it the 'second most valued company in the Indian edutech space after Byju's. Indian edu-tech firm Byju's have the highest valuation of USD 10.5 billion. Vedantu has always believ...

Edtech Platform Unacademy acquire Prepladder for $50 million

7Jul By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

Edtech Platform Unacademy acquire Prepladder for $50 million

India's leading ed-tech platform Unacademy has acquired a medical-based preparation platform PrepLadder for $50 million. The deal has been revealed by Unacademy co-founder Gaurav Mujal on Twitter. https://twitter.com/gauravmunjal/status/1280398406838390784 PrepLadder, which employs about 150 people, offers courses aimed at medical students. The two-year-old startup, which never raised any capital from external investors, has more than 80,000 subscribers, said PrepLadder co-founder Deepanshu Goyal. The acquisition of PrepLadder comes as both Unacademy and Byju’s the two edtech leaders in India have engaged in M&A talks with several local startups in recent months to further their dominance in the nation. As per the Pixr8 report, Byju’s is in talks to acquire another e...

26Jun By AnkitaNo Comments

FUNDING

BYJU’S raises funding from Mary Meeker’s led VC firm BOND

India based ed-tech platform BYJU'S raises funds from global technology investment firm BOND at a valuation of $10 billion. This is the first Indian startup investment of Mary Meeker's led VC firm BOND. In February, BYJU'S raised about USD 200 million in funding from General Atlantic. At that time, sources had said the company was valued at about USD 8.2 billion. BYJU'S which has raised well over USD 1.3 billion had also announced raising funds from Tiger Global Management in January. "This partnership (with BOND) is a testament to the role that BYJU'S is playing in helping students learn better by customizing our platform to their abilities. It also demonstrates the rising global interest in education technology as digital learning becomes increasingly accepted and embraced...

15Jun By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Ed-tech startup Edvizo raises $150,000 in funding

Bangalore-based ed-tech startup Edvizo raises $150,000 (more than Rs 1.13 crore) in a seed funding round from Inflection Point Ventures. Edvizo acts as an online marketplace to search, compare and enroll in the best institutes for competitive exam preparation. It enables coaching institutes to get more students through their platform thereby helping them reduce their expenses on marketing and branding and invest more in acquiring top teaching talent. Edvizo has associated with 2650 institutes already and has over 50,000 registrations on its platform. The venture intends to utilise these funds to strengthen its technical & sales team, along with acquiring more users and expanding to more cities. "We are excited to work with IPV to continue building and rolling out our ed-tech ...

26Apr By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

Edtech startup GUVI raises $786k in Pre-series A funding

GUVI, a startup incubated by IIT Madras and CIIE.CO-IIM Ahmedabad has raised $786k in its Pre-series A round of funding from Education Catalyst Fund, an education-focused venture capital fund managed by CBA Capital. CIIE.CO is a startup incubator established by IIM Ahmedabad. An integrated ed-tech platform providing course contents in vernacular languages as well, GUVI has presence in over 1,000 engineering colleges. "We will use the capital raised in this round to scale up operations, introduce newer courses in more vernacular languages and expand our geographical presence for our blended (offline+online) learning program ''Zen class''," S.P. Balamurugan, Chief Executive Officer, GUVI, said in a statement. "During the lockdown, we are experiencing a huge surge in number of pe...