Byju’s has acquired WhiteHat Jr. for an all-cash deal of $300 million. With this deal, the Indian online learning giant is looking to expand its reach in the country.
The 18-month-old Mumbai-headquartered start-up WhiteHat Jr. offers online coding classes to students based in India and the US.
Fastest exit story of WhiteHat Jr.
Karan Bajaj, the founder of WhiteHat Jr. and the former chief executive of Discovery Networks India said that the start-up was created to make kids creators instead of consumers of technology. He said that they have created a coding curriculum that is delivered live and connects both students and teachers effectively.
WhiteHatJr. assigns one teacher to one student. These classes are live and each session costs around $10. Currently, about 5000 teachers are working for the online coding start-up.
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The online coding start-up had raised about $11 million from Omidyar Network, Owl Ventures, and Nexus Venture Partners. It has achieved an annual revenue run rate of $150 million and will continue to operate as a separate entity.
Byju’s to make significant investments in WhiteHat Jr. to expand its dominant reach
The founder, and chief executive of the eponymous start-up Byju Raveendran said that they will make significant investments in WhiteHat Jr’s technology platform, and continue to expand their teacher base, catering to the demand from new markets. The US DC Advisory acted as the exclusive financial advisors for this deal. Byju’s will launch coding for children, a fast-growing, niche segment among the K-12 space, in the ed-tech sector with the closure of this deal.
This is also by far the largest acquisition by Byju’s. Before this, it had acquired Osmo, a US-based learning platform in 2019. Byju’s acquired Osmo for $120 million. This deal was said to be part of the Bengaluru-based firm’s plan for rapid international expansion. Byju’s has also acquired Math Adventures, TutorVista, and Vidyarth.
Byju’s on a fundraising spree
The Bengaluru-based firm is currently valued between $10-$10.5 billion. It has also been looking into fundraising for the current calendar year. DST Global, an investment firm led by Israeli-Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, is in advanced stages of investing an estimated $400 million into the company.