Edtech Startup Byju's Acquires US-based reading Startup Epic for $500 million
Byju's, one of the leading Edu-tech companies, recently announced the acquisition of US-based reading platform Epic for $500 million, continuing its binge of large acquisitions to expand its education facilities beyond the Indian market and across categories.
Epic is built on a library of over 40,000 popular, high-quality books from 250 of the world's top publishers. Its recommendations are tailored to the child's interests, and parents can track their child's progress and see how much time he or she spends reading. It also contains original stories that will appeal to children. The deal's cash and stock split was not specified.
Anita Kishore, Chief Strategy Officer, Byju’s, states, “Epic’s model for inspiring the next generation through interactive reading is in lockstep with our mission to help millions of children become life-long learners.”
Byju’s states, “we will invest a billion dollars in North America and consider the region one of its most lucrative markets. This is not Byju’s first foray into the US. In 2019 it acquired educational games-maker Osmo, another US-based firm for $120 million. Last year we also acquired coding startup WhiteHat Jr., which also considers the US a key market. Byju’s last month launched Future School, an online one-on-one live learning platform for math and coding. Future School is led by Karan Bajaj, founder, and CEO of WhiteHat Jr.”
Suren Markosian, CEO and co-founder of Epic, said, “We created Epic to make quality books more accessible to kids everywhere, and to build a safe place for them to discover the joy and magic of reading in their own way...Together (with Byju’s), we can help empower future generations of kids by fostering a lifetime love for reading and learning.”
Large accomplishments have become the foundation of Byju's, which was valued at $16.5 billion last month, with $350 million coming from UBS, private equity behemoth Blackstone, Abu Dhabi state fund ADQ, Phoenix Rising, and Zoom founder Eric Yuan. By signing the agreement, Byju's became India's most valuable internet company, surpassing fintech company Paytm.
Epic is built on a library of over 40,000 popular, high-quality books from 250 of the world's top publishers. Its recommendations are tailored to the child's interests, and parents can track their child's progress and see how much time he or she spends reading. It also contains original stories that will appeal to children. The deal's cash and stock split was not specified.
Anita Kishore, Chief Strategy Officer, Byju’s, states, “Epic’s model for inspiring the next generation through interactive reading is in lockstep with our mission to help millions of children become life-long learners.”
Byju’s states, “we will invest a billion dollars in North America and consider the region one of its most lucrative markets. This is not Byju’s first foray into the US. In 2019 it acquired educational games-maker Osmo, another US-based firm for $120 million. Last year we also acquired coding startup WhiteHat Jr., which also considers the US a key market. Byju’s last month launched Future School, an online one-on-one live learning platform for math and coding. Future School is led by Karan Bajaj, founder, and CEO of WhiteHat Jr.”
Suren Markosian, CEO and co-founder of Epic, said, “We created Epic to make quality books more accessible to kids everywhere, and to build a safe place for them to discover the joy and magic of reading in their own way...Together (with Byju’s), we can help empower future generations of kids by fostering a lifetime love for reading and learning.”
Large accomplishments have become the foundation of Byju's, which was valued at $16.5 billion last month, with $350 million coming from UBS, private equity behemoth Blackstone, Abu Dhabi state fund ADQ, Phoenix Rising, and Zoom founder Eric Yuan. By signing the agreement, Byju's became India's most valuable internet company, surpassing fintech company Paytm.
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