Online education tech startup, Byju’s, based in Bengaluru, acquired TutorVista and Edurite from the world’s biggest learning company Pearson, based in the UK. This partnership comes three months after Byju’s raised additional funding from Belgium based investment holding company Verlinest. The financial details of this acquisition have not been disclosed.
The partnership will be focused on expanding their international reach and creating a diverse product portfolio. In a statement, Byju Raveendran, Founder and Chief Executive of Byju’s said that the partnership will give them access to new markets when they launch their international products.
TutorVista is a pioneer in online tutoring for students across the world which also provide services such as test preparation services, help with homework, supplemental tutoring among others. They acquired Edurite, an education solutions provider in 2007. In 2009, Pearson acquired a 17% stake in TutorVista and added another 59% stake in 2011 for Rs. 577 crore. They acquired 80% stake of TutorVista in the same year and took over the remaining 20% stake in 2013.
Byju’s, valued at $ 670 million, will get a foothold in the lucrative online market of the United States with this acquisition, which amounts to 70% of TutorVista’s traffic. In 2016, Byju’s raised capital thrice from various investors. They raised about $ 75 million from Sequoia Capital and Belgian family office Sofina, $ 50 million from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and $15 million from the World Bank investment arm International Finance Corp. Till date, Byju’s have raised over $150 million in venture funding rounds.
Founded in 2011, Byju’s is already present in the Middle East and is looking to expand to the US, UK and South Africa along with other African and Commonwealth markets. They also boast of 8 million users and 4 lakh annual paid subscribers between the classes of IV-XII. They provided personalized learning programs for individual students based on their proficiency levels and capabilities on their app based platform.
Commenting on the acquisition the managing director of Pearson India, Deepak Mehrotra, said they were pleased a leading online education company could see the value of Edurite and TutorVistor, who are both pioneer brands in their respective spaces. He also wished them the best hoping the businesses and employees thrive under the new ownership.
