upGrad buys online higher education startup Impartus for Rs 150 crore

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Mumbai: Online re-skilling firm upGrad on Monday announced the acquisition of Impartus, a leading video-enabled learning solutions provider, for Rs 150 crore.

The deal is expected to help strengthen the Ronnie Screwvala-founded company’s foothold in college education.

After the completion of the acquisition Impartus will be rebranded as upGrad Campus, and will boost its revenue run-rate by an additional Rs 85 crore, the company said in a statement.

With the acquisition, upGrad, which predominantly focuses on working professionals, will now be able to strengthen its presence among higher education institutions and learners, which is a Rs 56,000 crore market, Screwvala, the co-founder and chairman of upGrad, said.

Given this large market opportunity, this deal will enable upGrad to add 50,000 paid learners in the very first year of the acquisition.

upGrad, which had raised $160 million from Temasek ($120 million) and IFC last months for 25% of its equity, expects Impartus to contribute Rs 85 crore to its targeted Rs 2,400-crore revenue run-rate in FY22, up from Rs 1,200 crore in FY21.

The city-based company had only Rs 230 crore of revenue run-rate in FY20 but got a major boost from the pandemic that spawned demand for upskilling and re-skilling and more than doubled its student count to over 1 million.

Founded by three IIT graduates Amit Mahensaria, Alok Choudhary and Manish Kumar, the Bengaluru-based Impartus develops technology solutions for virtual classrooms that allow for deep learner-teacher engagement.

Impartus has helped schools and colleges migrate online at zero cost when the pandemic broke out in 2020. Since its founding seven years ago, it has successfully onboarded over 280 higher education institutes, 50,000 teachers, and 6 lakh students, Screwvala said.

upGrad Campus will target students from higher education institutions and colleges with its learning tools and content as an integrated solution. He said the founders of Impartus will continue to run and grow the business independently.

upGrad Campus will bolster our presence in the university education space and help the youth learn the necessary skillsets to become more employable and join the workforce as leaders of tomorrow, Screwvala said.

One of the major challenges faced by graduates is their lack of industry-ready and employable skillsets due to the inadequate curriculum. The synergy of Impartus and upGrad will augment college education by helping learners upskill with new-age courses, thus helping them elevating their candidature for better career prospects, said Amit Mahensaria, who will be the chief executive of upGrad Campus now.