Upskilling unicorn upGrad has bought Noida-based online learning platform Exampur for an undisclosed amount in a cash-and-share swap deal, in its tenth acquisition so far.
This follows Mumbai-based upGrad’s 22 July purchase of New Delhi-based online learning platform Harappa Education for $38 million in a cash-and-share swap deal.
VCCircle reported in July that International Finance Corporation and IIFL-backed upGrad aims to add 3,000 employees this fiscal besides making major acquisitions over the next 2-3 months.
Founded in 2018 by Vivek Kumar and Vardan Gandhi, Exampur is an online learning startup for several competitive examinations. It offers courses for government exam preparation, with a hybrid model comprising offline and online teaching facilities to aspirants from tier-II, III, and IV cities. The startup looks to hit revenue of ₹70 crore this fiscal.
Exampur claims to have a user base of over 10 million students and offers over 200 test-prep courses for government jobs.
“It’s undeniable that the number of educated candidates in India is growing exponentially, yet they are unemployed. It is also being supported by the pandemic-related disruptions, geopolitical situations, and rising inflation that are negatively hitting the employment elasticity within the country. Hence, we want our learners to walk that extra mile to understand the key to cracking such competitive exams and this is where we have created a hybrid learning model through our digital presence,” said Kumar and Gandhi, co-founders of Exampur, in a joint statement.
UpGrad Education Pvt. Ltd, which runs the upGrad platform, was founded in 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli. This year, the company has made five acquisitions so far, including Exampur, taking the total tally to ten deals till date.
“When we look at non-linear growth, we make sure it complements our commitment of driving maximum career outcomes for our learners. Hence, with Exampur, we are foraying into the government test prep market for the first time which is a completely new space for us,” Kumar, co-founder of upGrad said in an interview.
“The audience is different from our working professionals and lifelong learning segments who are aspiring to build a career through government jobs like UPSC, SSC, defence, banking and teaching including other state-level government jobs. Exampur has a very strong brand connect across non-metros in tier II, III and IV markets, especially in north India and together, we aim to strengthen this ecosystem by also expanding across other parts of the country,” he said.
“We’ve created an integrated learning portfolio for our learners and within that matrix, we see test-prep as a high potential growth driver. I realize that it comes with a high customer acquisition cost, but it also delivers higher returns in terms of outcomes. Therefore, we wanted a partner with the right set of DNA within this space and Exampur seamlessly fits into our LifeLongLearning jigsaw,” said Gaurav Kumar, president, corporate development, upGrad, in a statement.
UpGrad has been bullish on its acquisition strategy to grow its user base and adjacencies in other verticals including test-prep through the acquisition of The Gate Academy, recruitment and staffing platform Rekrut in 2020.
The edtech industry, which boomed during the pandemic as teaching moved online, has witnessed major funding crunch and moderation in valuations with the reopening of educational institutions.
With a focus on conserving costs, several have resorted to mass layoffs and trimming discretionary spending.
Over the past several months, edtech unicorns Byju’s, Unacademy, Vedantu and other smaller players such as Lido Learning, FrontRow, Udayy, and SuperLearn have either fired or asked hundreds of employees to leave as they shut some of their operations to cut costs.Besides edtech, the broader startup ecosystem has also suffered large layoffs with companies like FrontRow, Meesho, CityMall, Mobile Premier League, Cars24, MFine, Furlenco and Trell firing employees over the past few months.