Masai School acquires Data Analytics institute Prepleaf for $1M

Bengaluru-based edtech startup Masai School has acquired Delhi-based placement preparation company - Prepleaf for $1 million. The acquisition will help Masai offer courses in data and business analytics along with web development, and UI/UX design.

As with its last acquisition, Design Shift, PrepLeaf will continue working as a separate entity under the “PrepLeaf by Masai School” banner.

"We will slowly and methodically start integrating PrepLeaf into the Masai ecosystem. Student experience is the most important thing for us, so the transition is expected to happen seamlessly within the next 90 days," said Prateek Shukla, co-founder and CEO, Masai School, in a conversation with YourStory.

He added that PrepLeaf was founded with the single-minded agenda to create a paradigm shift in the way people acquire skills and land their ideal jobs as a result of those skills.

"The founders wanted to transform the way skill-based education is delivered today and create a world-class employable talent pool from India. We found this to be in-sync with our brand mission as well," said Prateek.

Prepleaf was initially launched as a test preparation platform based on a survey conducted among the alumni of IIT Kanpur, which deep-dived into test patterns of companies who visited the campus for placements. Based on this, the team was able to build an initial minimum viable product for Prepleaf.

In January 2021, the company started its five-month course with a comprehensive training curriculum. Currently, Prepleaf has around 250 students enrolled in Data Analytics test preparation courses.

Prateek termed PrepLeaf’s success metrics as fascinating - with an average placement rate of about 90 percent, candidates have been offered an average salary package of Rs 7.5 lakh. "So far, the highest salary package has been Rs 24 lakh," added Prateek.

Speaking on why they chose to acquire Prepleaf, Prateek said, "Ankit, Amit and Aman were my juniors at IIT. I have known them for a while now. Even then they had a very “get-things-done” view towards life. Aman even worked at my previous startup, Grabhouse, before Quikr acquired it. I have always liked their attitude and passion towards changing the way the Indian education system works."

Prateek added that since Prepleaf started their cohort based courses in January this year, he's been in touch with the team to map their progress.

"So, the conversations about this acquisition between our core teams has been going on for a while, and finally we have put ink to paper. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier about finding the right partners with the right mindset in expanding the Masai family," said Prateek.

Like Masai, Prepleaf offers courses through an Income Share Agreement, where students study at zero-upfront fees and only pay if they earn more than Rs 5 lakh per annum. Prateek also believes there are other synergies the two startups have that made it an obvious fit.

Prateek explained PrepLeaf was founded with the single-minded agenda to create a paradigm shift in the way people acquire skills and land their ideal jobs as a result of those skills.

"The founders wanted to transform the way skill-based education is delivered today and create a world-class employable talent pool from India. We found this to be in-sync with our brand mission as well. PrepLeaf founders Ankit, Aman and Amit, are hustlers by their own nature and have spent a considerable amount of time in outcome-based education, and they have a strong suit towards technology in general and in their own pedagogy. Our vision at Masai School is aligned with PrepLeaf’s when it comes to outcome-driven education and pedagogy-based learning," said Prateek.

Masai has been creating major ripples in the pedagogy space, and has been able to create tremendous success with the methods in its 9-9-6 curriculum.