Byju’s, at last, Enters the Offline Space
2 min read
Byju’s raised $1 billion last year, along with $600-700 million just last month valuing at $15 billion comings close to Paytm valued at $16 billion. As predicted by many the continuous rounds of funding were to acquire the offline coaching conglomerate – Aakash Institute!
The acquisition was done at $1 billion as mentioned by those familiar with the deal! The deal is said to be divided into Cash and Stakes, with $600 million in cash while the rest in stake is being offered. Aakash Institute is a 33-year-old coaching institute started by JC Chaudhry and now is handled by his son Aakash Chaudhry.
It has more than 215 coaching centers spread across India with 2,50,000+ students! While Byju’s now has 80 million students of which 5.5 million pay the annual subscription charges. Aakash institute was backed by Blackstone, which had invested $184 million in the institute for a 37.5% stake which is partly cashing out while will stay a stakeholder of Byju’s along with Aakash Chaudhry.
Aakash Institute had tried entering digital education & was able to make Rs. 150 million in revenue but found a huge gap between themselves and the players in the same industry. This collaboration might be a big turn for the Indian Ed-Tech Market, with Byju’s being the leader of online education has now as well entered offline education to ensure the personal touch of teachers! With companies like Google now recruiting people with just a certificate course and no degrees, the education system might see a huge turnaround, and companies like Byju’s might as well help in the same. Aakash institute is one of the traditional educators who have now entered a digital space that might be the future of education and it will be interesting to see how this collaboration helps to change the education system in India!
Do you think Indian companies too will start accepting people with certificate courses than those with actual degrees?
