Edutech major Byju’s has forayed in the coding space by acquiring Mumbai based WhiteHat Jr for estimated $300 Mn in all cash deal. Founded in 2018, WhiteHat Jr offers online training program to K-12 Students and is today pretty much an undisputed leader in this space.
Techpluto will soon provide the breakdown of this transaction by accessing the regulatory filings. Keep watching this space for the same.
However, if grapevines are to believed then out of $300 Mn, $120-$150 Mn will go to WhiteHat Jr’s founder Karan Bajaj alone. The acquisition will also pave way for profitable exit for WhiteHat Jr’s existing investors Nexus Venture Partners, Omidyar Network India and Owl Ventures. Omidyar also happens to be one of the existing investors in Edutech startup Doubtnut, which is supposedly Byju’s next acquisition target.
Analysts tout this to be an incredible achievement for Bajaj since he has got an all cash exit within the span of two years; this is a rarity for any Indian startup. Bajaj had founded WhiteHat Jr in 2018.
Furthermore, analysts claim that WhitHat achieving ARR of 150 Mn in a short span of 2 years is as much an important milestone.
Online Coding for school students, by the way, is a niche space but is growing at a frenetic pace and is already witnessing intense competition. Vedantu and Toppr have already forayed into this space and have promised that they will be investing heavily in this niche space to consolidate their market share. For instance, Toppr’s Co-founder and CEO Zishaan Hayath has already said that the company will be soon onboarding more than 100 coding tutors including tutors from IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur.
Vedantu has also clarified that it will be investing heavily in its recently launched coding program Vedantu Super Kids.
Experts claim that parents want to impart coding knowledge to their kids at an early stage in order to provide strong foundational growth to them in the lucrative I.T and engineering field. Pune based Urmila Patil, who is planning to enroll her kid to an online coding classes, echoed the same sentiments.
“I want my 12 year kid to learn coding at an early stage as this will help in giving a strong direction to his career in the future,” Urmila told Techpluto in a telephonic conversation.
Meanwhile, WhiteHat Jr acquisition will equally help Byju’s in propelling its growth in the international market especially in U.S. where the former made its debut in February 2020. American market reportedly already accounts for Byju’s 10% annual revenue and the company is planning for an aggressive expansion in the highly competitive U.S market.
Bajaj had recently said that WhiteHat Jr has nearly 20,000 subscribers in the U.S market and will be ramping up operations in Canada, U.K, Australia and New Zealand. Bajaj has already confirmed that the company was running a pilot project in Canada.
