Indian Economy News

BYJU's acquires code training app WhiteHat Jr for US$ 300 million

  • IBEF
  • August 6, 2020

BYJU’s, an online education platform, has acquired Mumbai-based education technology (edtech) start-up WhiteHat Jr in an all-cash deal worth US$ 300 million. This marks BYJU’s entry into the fast-growing computer code training segment targeted at high school and college students.

It is company’s fifth and largest acquisition to date. Osmo, a maker of educational games, was last acquired by it for US$ 120 million in its first-ever purchase of a US company in January 2019.

WhiteHat Jr. is a coding platform that was founded in November 2018. It aims to provide students with computer coding skills and targets pupils from classes 9-12. It helps kids aged 6 to 14 years build commercial-ready games, animations, and apps online using the fundamentals of coding. The company offers four levels of courses including beginner, intermediate, advanced, and professional.

Recently, WhiteHat Jr had announced their plans to expand to other global markets like Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand and already has a presence in the US market since February 2020.

This acquisition will help BYJU’s expand its portfolio and increase the course offerings on the platform for school students in India. It has plans to make further investment into WhiteHat Jr’s technology platform, product innovation while expanding the teacher base to cater to demand from new markets, according to a company statement.

“Technology is at the centre of every human interaction today and we had set out to create a coding curriculum that was being delivered live and connected students and teachers like never before. Integration with a visionary company such as BYJU’S will help take this idea to new heights and help unleash the remarkable creative potential of kids at a global scale," Mr Karan Bajaj, founder, WhiteHat Jr.

“Empowering children with the right future skills has always been part of our vision at BYJU’S and coding fits well into this. WhiteHat Jr’s coding product capabilities, combined with our pedagogy, expertise and scale, will help expand our learning offerings for school students," added Mr Byju Raveendran, chief executive, BYJU’s.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

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