Sequoia Capital India-backed upskilling startup Scaler Academy on Thursday said it has acquired online learning platform AppliedRoots for $50 million (about Rs 378 crore).
This is Scaler’s third acquisition after the buyout of Coding Minutes and Coding Elements in 2021 to boost its operations.
The platform said that AppliedRoots acquisition will help it to offer products across data science, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
Following the acquisition, all the six co-founders will join Scaler Academy and lead varied projects.
While a maximum number from AppliedRoots team will work with Scaler Academy’s data science and machine learning business vertical, a few team members, on the other hand, will help in building Scaler Topics, a technopedia for aspiring software professionals to learn and master the right tech skills, Scaler Academy said in a statement.
AppliedRoots, founded by Srikanth Varma Chekuri, Murali Krishna Varri, Naveen Reddy Bade, Brahma Reddy, Srinivas Reddy and Satish Atcha, claims to be bootstrapped and offers various AI, ML and data science courses including its flagship ApploedAI Course.
In 2021, AppliedRoots also teamed up with the University of Hyderabad to offer an online diploma course in AI and ML.
“Together we can accelerate the pace at which we can aid aspiring tech professionals to upskill themselves and create meaningful and rewarding careers. As we build ourselves into a world-class virtual tech varsity, their experiences will come in very handy.
This acquisition will allow us to strengthen our DS (data science), ML and Al offering and help us tap into a much wider learner base," said Abhimanyu Saxena, Co-Founder, Scaler Academy and InterviewBit.
“Our immediate goal will be to support the efforts and projects being done in the data science and ML team. We will also incorporate a separate data analyst sub track within the data science program. Scaler has a mission-oriented and high capability team, and we are looking forward to working with them,” said Srikanth Verma Chekuri, Co-Founder, AppliedRoots.
Launched in 2019, Scaler Academy offers upskilling courses to college students and tech talents. Scaler Academy said that seven out of every ten unicorns in India, currently, have a Scaler Academy alumnus.
The platform has also joined hands with Microsoft, Google and Amazon for placements.
In February, it had raised $55 million as a part of its Series B funding led by Lightrock India, at a valuation of $710 million. The firm also counts Tiger Global Management as its backer.