Edtech unicorn Byju’s has acquired its smaller rivals Great Learning and Toppr, media reports said quoting the company’s filings. The acquisition comes soon after Byju’s acquired Aakash Educational Services for a reported $1 billion in April this year.Reports added that Byju’s likely paid $600 million for Great Learning and $150 million for Toppr.Great Learning is an upskilling and reskilling platform offering degree, diploma, and certificate programs in association with recognized universities. It offers programs in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital marketing, and data science. Its FY20 revenue was Rs 325 crore and was on track for revenues for Rs 700 crore revenues in FY21.Toppr is an after-school learning app that offers live classes, tests, and recorded educational content. It also offers school management system School OS, exam preparation app Answr, and code-learning app Codr. Toppr claims it has 35 million monthly and 2 million daily active users on its platform.With these acquisitions, Byju’s has acquired six companies this year, and 15 since inception. It has paid $2.2 billion for six acquisitions since April 2021.Last month, Byju’s received a fresh round of funding worth $1.5 billion. The latest funding round valued Byju’s at $16.6 billion, making it India's most valued startup, followed by IPO-bound Paytm, which is valued at $16 billion as per the latter's IPO plans.At the time of Aakash Educational Services’ acquisition in April this year, Byju’s founder and chief executive Byju Raveendran had said that the startup was planning to go public in 18 to 24 months.With the takeover of Great Learning, Byju’s will take on competition from UnAcademy, Vedantu, Simplilearn, and Upgrad. It also enhances Byju’s product portfolio for international markets.

Deal fine print

To buy 25.83 lakh ordinary shares of Great Learning, Byju’s has offered 29,324 Series F preference shares worth Rs733.1 crore. Other stakeholders LMK Holdings and Matrix Benefit fund have received Rs 682. 2 crores in equity and Rs 50.92 crore in cash. Similarly, Toppr shareholders have swapped their shares with Byju’s 17,036 Series F shares worth Rs 426 crore ($57 million).
For the acquisition of Great Learning and Toppr, Byju’s has kicked off a fresh round of fundraising worth Rs 424 crore ($57 crore). The startup has issued 7.806 Series F preference shares at Rs 238,125 per share. MIH Edtech Investments and Maitri Edtech Special OP Funds have invested Rs 333.4 crore and Rs 90.63 crore respectively to buy these shares. After these transactions, the stake of Byju’s Raveendran and his family, the promoter group, will dilute to 23.38% from 23.4% in June 2021. After the deal, Great Learning and Toppr shareholders will hold 1% in Byju.

Byju’s recent deals and their significance

Last week, Byju’s acquired US-based startup Epic, which offers online reading solutions for children for $500
In April, Byju’s acquired Aakash Educational Services, which offers preparatory tutorials for medical and engineering entrance tests in India, for a reported $1 billion
Acquisition of Toppr improves its position in K-12 segment where Byju’s has been facing stiff competition from Unacademy and Vedantu
Through its online tutor platform Byju’s Future School, it’s trying to tap South-East Asian and Latin American markets

Conclusion

Byju's multiple buyouts should help it achieve scale and garner more users in a space that lends itself well to network effects, which could lead to a winner-take-all market. At the same time, the edtech space will continue to remain prone to disruption, meaning the company will have to be on top of trends and new developments in the space. It will also have to maintain a laser-like focus on execution, as value addition in the education space will be the best driver of growth.

Kristal Advisors

June 22, 2021

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