What impact do you see of Byju’s acquiring Aakash Education for $1 billion?

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the lockdown and the pandemic was Byju’s as online learning took off to new highs. To accommodate that growing demand, Byju’s has been looking at inorganic opportunities. The latest is the proposed acquisition of Aakash Educational Services for $1 billion.

Aakash Educational Services runs the highly popular educational chain, Aakash Institute, and is backed by Blackstone. Aakash trains students for engineering and medical entrance exams. The deal is expected to be closed in the next 1-2 months. While the promoting family will exit, Blackstone will swap its 37.5% stake in Aakash for a stake in Byju’s.

While the news is yet to be confirmed, as when it happens, it will be one more addition to the Byju’s portfolio. It may be recollected that In August 2020, Byju's had announced that it had acquired WhiteHat Jr, which runs coding classes for kids. The recent fund raising of $200 million by Byju’s from T Rowe Price and BlackRock pegs its valuation at $12 billion.

It must be said that one of the big reasons big the exponential growth of Byju's during the lockdown was that it forced users to switch from traditional educational methods to online learning. It is targeting to double its total revenues to $1 billion for the fiscal year ending Mar-21 and is already the second most valuable Indian start up after Paytm.