Edtech Startup CollegeDekho Acquires Getmyuni And IELTSMaterial For Over INR 50 Cr

Gurugram-based edtech startup, CollegeDekho Group has acquired Getmyuni and IELTSMaterial in a deal valued more than INR 50 Cr. The acquisition enables CollegeDekho Group to hit a 4X revenue run rate growth over its last year’s numbers and scale further to maximise growth this year.

With this partnership, the edtech startup and Getmyuni will reportedly drive more than 25 Cr annual student traffic and facilitate more than 30K enrolments across almost 2000 partner colleges.

“Like CollegeDekho, Getmyuni, works with the top universities and helps them with their admission solutions. While CollegeDekho’s focus area continues to fulfil end-to-end enrollment mandates of universities, Getmyuni will continue helping institutes with leads and branding solutions. We envision these as two complementary services, which will enable any university working with us to supercharge their enrolments,” said Ruchir Arora, cofounder and CEO of CollegeDekho. 

Acquiring IELTSMaterial will also enable CollegeDekho to scale its recently announced online learning vertical, CollegeDekho Learn by adding English testing exam preparation capabilities for exams such as IELTS, TOEFL, PTE, and OET which will further boost its study abroad business.

“The acquisition of IELTSMaterial.com will help us enhance CollegeDekho Learn even further whilst strengthening CollegeDekho Study Abroad too.” Arora further said. 

Founded in 2015, CollegeDekho aims to institutionalise students’ counselling in India in the higher education space. It connects prospective students with colleges using its proprietary technology and AI-based chat conversation bot. 

The startup now runs multiple businesses across student enrollment, study abroad, online learning, education lending and is looking at more avenues for inorganic growth. 

As a part of the transaction, Getmyuni’s founding team will join CollegeDekho’s senior leadership and continue to operate independently as this adds fundamentally additive value to the partner universities.

Of late, CollegeDekho raised $35 Mn in its Series B funding round and is aiming to become a leading edtech juggernaut in the higher education space. 

It has also announced a fintech vertical that offers students with end-to-end financial assistance. It claims to be backed by investors such as ETS, an organisation responsible for conducting GRE and TOEFL exams globally. 

Since its inception, CollegeDekho asserts to have counselled more than 2 Mn students and has helped almost 2000 colleges with their student recruitments. It renders a full range of services from profile building, test preparation, university selection and visa assistance. 

The Indian edtech sector is growing at a fast pace. According to an RBSA Advisors’ report, the country’s edtech industry is poised to become $30 Bn in size in the next ten years. In 2021, edtech startups garnered $4.7 Bn in 165 deals, according to the Inc42 report. In addition, three new edtech firms also joined the unicorn club–upGrad, Eduditus and Vedantu in the last year. 

upGrad collected $185 Mn from IIFL Group, International Finance Corp. (IFC) and Temasek Holdings Ltd increasing its valuation to $1.2 Bn. In August 2021, Eruditus bagged $650 Mn in its Series E funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund II and Accel US, thus, reaching its valuation to $3.2 Bn. Vedantu snagged $100 Mn in Series E funding round reaching its valuation to more than $1 Bn. 

Lately, Kochi-based edtech startup, Entri.app raised $7 Mn in Series A funding round led by Omidyar Network India with participation from Innospark Ventures and Integrated Capital. With this round, the company raised a total capital of $10.1 Mn to date. 

While, another edtech company Juno Learning, secured INR11.25 Cr after Info Edge acquired a 25% stake in the company. According to Info Edge’s regulatory filing, it has agreed to acquire 4,331 compulsorily convertible preference shares having a face value of INR 10, each as a primary acquisition of shares. 

Besides these recent developments in the edtech sector, the Indian education sector is also shifting gear by resuming offline schooling in full capacity. However, online classes or edtech education models would remain core to the country’s education market as it shored up the falling education system during the epidemic and facilitated students by offering education at their convenience and right price.