Byju’s to buy Akash Educational Services for $1 billion

Byju’s, India’s biggest online-education startup, has signed an agreement to acquire Aakash Educational Services Ltd., a brick & mortar test prep leader, for $1 billion.

This agreement would be one of the largest edtech acquisitions in the world and should close in the next two or three months. Also, this would be one of the most successful franchise company’s acquisitions by an edtech firm.

India’s second-most valuable startup Byju’s is valued at $12 billion. It has been on a fund-raising spree as the pandemic has sent a demand for its online lessons soaring. The Bangalore-headquartered company is backed by the likes of Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Tiger Global Management, and Bond Capital, Co-Founded by Silicon Valley investor Mary Meeker.

Aakash Educational Services runs the Aakash Institute, which has more than 200 brick and mortar centers. The Blackstone Group-backed firm’s student count is over 250,000, according to its website.

As part of the deal with Byju’s, Aakash’s Founders, the Chaudhry family, will be exiting completely, while Blackstone will swap a portion of its 37.5% equity in Aakash for Byju’s stake.