Edtech startup and skill upgrading platform UpGrad has acquired yet another company. This time the Ronnie Screwvala promoted company has made a more strategic acquisition and the one that clearly declares its monopolistic ambitions. UpGrad’s latest acquisition target is Talentedge, its direct and the most dominant competitor.
According to reports, UpGrad has entered an exclusive agreement to acquire Arrina Education – the parent company of Talentedge. Mr. Screwvala has confirmed this news to the business daily The Economic Times.
Although both companies have refused to divulge the financial details of the deal, reports citing unidentified sources claim the deal to be worth around Rs 350-Rs 400 Cr. The deal marks one of the biggest consolidation in the online higher education space.
Sources further added that the deal has been valued around 3x-4x of the Talentedge’s current year revenue. Talentedge is expected to rake nearly Rs 340 crore in revenue in the current financial year.
This high profile deal has come to light barely days after UpGrad announced the acquisition of Global Study Partners (GSP), Australia’s largest study abroad company. With the deal valuing around $16 Mn, the acquisition marked UpGrad’s first overseas acquisition.
The Mumbai based firm raised three big funding rounds earlier this year, helping the company in building a large war-chest for pursuing an aggressive acquisition strategy. As per reports, the company has earmarked nearly $250 Mn war chest for aggressively pursuing its M&A strategy.
Some of the companies that UpGrad has acquired during last one year include The Gate Academy (November 2020), Rekrut (December 2020), KnoweldgeHut (August 2021) and Impartus (May,2021).
UpGrad essentially offers skill upgrading courses to ambitious working professionals, the same niche that its latest acquisition Talentedge also deals with. The Temasek backed startup has partnered with 300 universities across India and different parts of the world to offer these courses.