upGrad acquires Harappa Education to establish leadership in enterprise learning in India
Founded by Pramath Raj Sinha and Shreyasi Singh, New Delhi-based edtech startup Harappa offers self-paced courses to address the spiralling problem of poor employability, inadequate leadership, and an ill-equipped workforce.
Edtech unicorn on Thursday announced a 100% acquisition of at a value of Rs 300 crore ($38 million).
upGrad closed this transaction with present Harappa shareholders—Bodhi Tree Systems (a newly formed platform between Lupa Systems Founder and CEO James Murdoch and Uday Shankar, former President of The Walt Disney Company, Asia-Pacific) and Co-founders Pramath Raj Sinha and Shreyasi Singh—all of who joined the upGrad cap table.
Co-founded by Pramath Raj Sinha and Shreyasi Singh, New Delhi-based online learning institution Harappa offers self-paced courses to address the spiralling problem of poor employability, inadequate leadership, and an ill-equipped workforce.
Harappa has an active clientele of 100 mid and large-sized organisations. According to upGrad, Harappa will clock Rs 75 crore in revenue this year.
“Similar to the integrated approach that we have been able to achieve in the B2C segment, we intend to offer a complete suite of products to our enterprise partners. A combination of upskilling courses, along with these critical skills that Harappa has to offer, would set us apart. We see strong demand from our clients, and with Harappa coming in, we believe we'll be able to grow exponentially within the segment as we cross-leverage the synergies," said Ronnie Screwvala and Mayank Kumar, Co-founders of upGrad.
Ronnie Screwvala, Co-founder and Chairman, UpGrad
Last week, upGrad acquired Bengaluru-based WOLVES, a recruitment and staffing firm, for an undisclosed amount. The same week, the startup launched five new offline experience centres in Delhi, Jabalpur, Kolhapur, Kottayam, and Patna.
Last month, the startup also announced that it was looking to hire 3,000 people in the next three months.
Founded by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, and Phalgun Kompalli in 2015, upGrad spans several segments—from test prep to study abroad—and undergrad degrees to campus courses in 250 universities. Its offerings include finance, law, business, and software for the 18-60 age group.
EY acted as the advisor for Harappa on the transaction.
Edited by Suman Singh