Listed publishing and education services firm S Chand, on Thursday said that it will selling its entire stake in the upskilling platform iNeuron Intelligence Pvt. Ltd to edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah for a consideration of around Rs 14 crore (around $1.7 million).
S Chand made a 2x return on its original investment of approximately Rs 7 crores in December 2021, the company said in a release.
In addition, S Chand’s co-investor, Mukesh Sharma Family Trust, would also be exiting its investment in Bengaluru-headquartered iNeuron Intelligence.
S Chand's stock was trading with cuts of over 2.5% at Rs 162.85 apiece on BSE in mid-day trade on Thursday.
LoEstro Advisors LLP is the exclusive financial advisers to iNeuron and the exiting shareholders.
S Chand along with its wholly owned subsidiaries Vikas Publishing and Chhaya Prakashani had acquired a minority stake in iNeuron Intelligence in December 2021 in two tranches. It completed its second tranche of investment in September 2022. Both companies have agreed to collaborate and worked together on university collaborations.
This is the second recent exit for S Chand from its various edtech investments. In July, the company sold its stake in exam preparation platform Testbook and made an over 8x return.
“This announcement is a step in the portfolio diversification journey that we set out on. iNeuron and S Chand have agreed to work together to build a learning infrastructure that does not restrict itself to physical settings,” said Saurabh Mittal, chief financial officer of S Chand and Company Limited.
“This transaction additionally enables us to monetize our edtech investments at an attractive valuation and provides opportunities to explore future investments. We are focused on developing our own solutions and channels of interactive learning for K-12, test prep and college and will be launching newer initiatives and content to spearhead and navigate India’s journey on back of the New Education Policy 2020,” said Mittal.
The company has its own digital business includes platforms such as S Chand Academy (YouTube), TestCoach App, Learnflix App and Mylestone Curriculum Solutions and is also an investor in Smartivity Labs Private Limited.
Launched in 2020, PhysicsWallah helps students prepare for engineering and medical entrance examinations. Founded by Alakh Pandey and Prateek Maheshwari, PW specialises in giving comprehensive lectures and sessions on YouTube, the PW app, and the website for students aspiring for Neet and JEE Mains, among other exams. It turned unicorn early this year after it raised $100 million (around Rs 777 crore) in its Series A funding round from marquee investors Westbridge and GSV Ventures.
In October this year, PW acquired test preparation platform PrepOnline and exam preparation books publisher Altis Vortex for an undisclosed amount in a cash-and-stock deal. It onboarded a total of 80 employees for its teaching assistance and editorial content expertise, which comprises 35 from PrepOnline and 45 from Altis Vortex. The company aims to expand its overall reach and scale its offerings across India.