Edtech company, BYJU’S has announced its strategic partnership with Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL), a leader in test-prep services. Sources confirm CNBC-TV18 that BYJU’s is acquiring Aakash Educational Services for nearly $1 Billion.

This partnership aims to create greater value for the student community by combining Aakash’s pedagogy expertise in the test-prep segment with BYJU’S content and tech capabilities. After the integration, BYJU’S will make further investments to accelerate Aakash’s growth.

EY was the exclusive financial advisor for BYJU’S on this transaction. Phoenix Advisors was the exclusive advisor for the AESL.

With over 33 years of experience, Aakash has built a learning ecosystem that has helped millions of young aspirants get into the country's best institutions. In 2019, AESL partnered with Blackstone to create India’s largest digitally enabled, omnichannel Test Preparation Company. Founders JC Chaudhry and Aakash Chaudhry to continue to spearhead AESL’s growth and expansion and AESL will continue to function independently. Aakash Founders and Blackstone also become shareholders in BYJU’S.

Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO, BYJU’S said, “I am happy to have Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL), a market leader and the most trusted name in the test-prep services, onboard with us. Our complementary strengths will enable us to build capabilities, create engaging and personalised learning programs. The future of learning is hybrid and this union will bring together the best of offline and online learning, as we combine our expertise to create impactful experiences for students.”

Byju further added, “The pandemic has brought the importance of the blended format of learning to the forefront. As we unite our forces to bring together decades of expertise and experience, this partnership will further accelerate Aakash’s growth and success.”

Aakash Chaudhry, Managing Director, AESL said “At Aakash, we are looking to transform student experiences by steering innovative and digitally-enabled learning solutions. Together with BYJU’S, we will work towards building an omnichannel learning offering that will accelerate test-prep experience to the next level. While this partnership will enhance our operational verticals, Aakash will continue to operate as a separate entity with the same passion and commitment with which its Founder & Chairman Mr J C Chaudhry incepted it. We are excited to partner with BYJU’S, and will strive to deliver long-term value to our students, employees, investors, and other stakeholders.”

The addition of Aakash is a significant step towards strengthening BYJU’S product offering. It reiterates the company’s focus on creating impactful learning products for students by adding more verticals, subjects, and languages to the same platform.

Amit Dixit, Co-Head of Asia Acquisitions and Head of India Private Equity at Blackstone, said “We invested in AESL because it is one of the leading education brands in India with a professional management team, best-in-class corporate governance and a 33-year track record of exceptional results. We have always believed omnichannel will be the winning model in test prep and tutoring, and we look forward to being a part of the partnership between the two foremost companies in Indian supplementary education – Aakash and BYJU’S. The combination of Aakash and BYJU’S is highly synergistic and we are excited to help build India’s largest education company.”

With over 215+ centres, Aakash provides test preparatory services to students preparing for medical and engineering entrance exams, school/board exams, KVPY, NTSE, Olympiads, and other Foundation level exams. Unified by a shared vision to create value for the student community and boost the learning ecosystem, this integration will help accelerate and scale Aakash’s growth in the test prep industry.

Launched in 2015, BYJU’S offers personalised learning programs for school students in India. With over 80 million students cumulatively learning from the app, 5.5 million annual paid subscriptions, and an annual renewal rate of 86%, the app creates personalized learning programs for individual students based on their proficiency levels and capabilities which help them learn at their own pace and style. In just 6 months during the lockdown, BYJU’S has added 45 million new students to its platform.

BYJU’S has been backed by strong and prominent investors like Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Naspers, CPPIB, General Atlantic, Tencent, Sequoia Capital, Sofina, Verlinvest, IFC, Aarin Capital, TimesInternet, Lightspeed Ventures, Tiger Global, Owl Ventures & Qatar Investment Authority.

First Published:Apr 5, 2021 3:56 PM IST