EdTech start-up upGrad acquires Impartus, commits Rs. 150 crore towards buyout and growth

On Friday, upGrad, a Mumbai-based EdTech start-up announced that it has acquired Impartus, video solutions provider, at a transaction value of > Rs. 150 crore (US$ 20.59 million).

The institutional investment partner of Impartus was Kaizenvest.

Impartus, has been rebranded as ‘upGrad Campus’ and is now a 100% subsidiary of UpGrad.

Its new programs would cater to higher education institutions and college students in learning tools and content in an integrated solution. The company aims to achieve revenue of Rs. 85 crore (US$ 11.67 million) in FY22. The founders of the company would continue to function and operate the business independently.

Mr. Amit Mahensaria, CEO - upGrad Campus, said, "The integration of Impartus and upGrad would help us enhance our capabilities for an enhanced college education and offer students with new-age courses to boost their skills, thereby advancing the candidates' skill-set for much better career opportunities.”

According to the company, the upGrad campus would function in two verticals - B2C and B2B. The B2C vertical would focus on job-oriented courses in the area of business analytics, artificial intelligence, digital marketing, and soft skills for career readiness. The duration of the course would be 2-4 months, where each student would need to dedicate weekly 10-15 hours per week.

At the same time, B2B vertical would focus on customized offering to higher educational institutions (HEI). As HEI's B2B SaaS partner, upGrad Campus would enable them to provide credit-based online courses, both in new-age courses, as well as engineering and management courses. B2B services would also include the facility of technical platforms and services (course maps, placements, industry projects, etc.) aimed at enabling university students to find employment opportunities.

 

Through the acquisition, upGrad, which is primarily aimed at in-service professionals, would be able to strengthen its position on higher education institutions and students’ market, which is estimated at Rs. 560 billion (US$ 7.69 billion).

Mr. Ronnie Screwvala, Chairman & Co-Founder, upGrad, said, "In line with our vision, the UpGrad campus would strengthen our position in the area of university education and support the youth of the country to learn the industry-based skills and enhance their employability opportunity.”

According to an official statement, this deal would help upGrad add 50,000 paying students in the first year of the acquisition.

Mr. Gaurav Kumar, President - Corporate Development and M&A, upGrad, said, "This acquisition expands to a broad target group, as the upGrad campus would allow higher education institutions and its students to leverage world-class learning materials.”

In early April 2021, upGrad advanced to the next unicorn EdTech start-up by raising US$ 120 million in investments from Temasek in Singapore.

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