BYJU’S acquires TutorVista and Edurite to expand global footprint

Online tutoring firm BYJU’s has announced the acquisition of TutorVista and Edurite from Pearson. It said these acquisitions will help it expand in newer markets as well as create a diverse product portfolio.

TutorVista, the Bengaluru-based online tutoring brand catering to school and college students in the US, had been acquired by Pearson in 2011. TutorVista claims that it witnesses millions of visitors every month on its website from across the globe, with the majority (70 percent) coming from the US.

Pearson, the global learning behemoth which established its India arm in 1998, has introduced its wide range of products and services in educational institutes as well as directly to the learners.

Commenting on this acquisition, Byju Raveendran, Founder & CEO, BYJU’S said,

“This partnership will enhance our product offerings and give us access in some of the new markets when we launch our international products. We are excited to work with the talented and experienced team that will come onboard as a part of this acquisition.”

In May, BYJU's launched an updated version of its app with the aim to provide a personalised learning experience to students. Features such as unique learning journeys, actionable feedback, recommendations, and guided paths make the new app more interactive.

Byju further emphasised the success of BYJU’S The Learning App which has witnessed massive adoption amongst students across grades (classes 4-12). BYJU's claims to have 8 million users and 400,000 annual paid subscribers.

BYJU’S app creates personalised learning programmes for individual students based on their proficiency levels and capabilities, which help them learn at their own pace and style.

Founded in 2015, BYJU’s also offers programmes for competitive exams like JEE, NEET, CAT, IAS, GRE and GMAT. BYJU’s now has plans to expand to the Middle East and go deeper in India to smaller towns and cities.

According to the company, students spent an average time of 40 minutes on the app every day from more than 1,700 cities and towns with the renewal rates of 90 per cent.

Byju is competing with US-based global edtech companies like Coursera, Udacity, and Udemy, and HotChalk.

In March this year, the company raised $30 million from Brussels-based family firm Verlinvest. Last year, Byju raised $140 million in three rounds from top investors, including $75 million from Sequoia Capital and Sofina in April, a $50-million round led by the Chan-Zuckerberg initiative (existing investors and others also participated in the round), and another $15 million from IFC, a financial institution that’s part of the World Bank group, in December.

According to a report by Kaizen equity fund, private equity investors since 2007 have injected a total of $ 1.1 billion in the Indian education sector

The report says, “The years 2010 and 2011 witnessed highest investments in the education sector. With 14 exits since 2007, private equity investments in the education sector have returned a healthy 21.5 percent IRR. Moreover, education has outperformed other counter-cyclical assets, such as gold (14.12 percent IRR). Most of these exits were secondary and strategic sales.”

Website: BYJU's