Byju's acquires Epic to strengthen footprint in North America

Byju's, a major Ed-tech company based in India, has reportedly taken over Epic, a US-based digital reading platform for kids, in a $500 million deal, with plans to enter the lucrative international market.

The acquisition comes over three months after the Bengaluru-based firm acquired Aakash Educational Services, an Indian brick-and-mortar test prep service provider and one of the largest in the local ed-tech space, in a nearly $1 billion deal. As a result, the Epic contract becomes Byju's second-largest deal.

According to Byju's, acquiring Epic will help them set their footprint in the US as the firm will now be able to access Epic's sizeable worldwide user base, which is believed to have doubled in the last year.

Currently, Epic includes more than 2 million teachers and 50 million children. The active learning model for kids developed by the US-based platform aligns with Byju's long-term development plan, which prioritizes the K-12 market.

However, Suren Markosian, Epic's CEO and co-founder, and Kevin Donahue, another co-founder, will remain at their positions.

According to Byju's Founder and CEO, Mr. Byju Raveendran, the firm's partnership with Epic will qualify them to build interactive and engaging learning experiences for children globally.

In addition, Byju's has set aside $1 billion in investments for North America. The company has constantly been planning a significant international expansion for some time, and has spent $120 million to acquire Osmo, a maker of educational games based in the United States, in 2019.

Byju's claims on having big plans for expanding in the International market and acquiring Epic will not only result in significant investments in technology that will support to customize further learning for students, but it will also allow Byju's to become a fundamental part of America's learning culture.

Source Credit - https://indianexpress.com/article/business/byjus-acquires-epic-for-usd-500-mn-7415670/