Edtech Unicorn upGrad Acquires Harappa Education For $38 Mn To Focus On Enterprisetech Segment

Edtech unicorn upGrad has acquired Harappa Education for $38 Mn (INR 300 Cr) in a mix of  cash and share-swap deal. 

As a part of the deal, Harappa’s founders–Pramath Raj Sinha and Shreyasi Singh along with its stakeholders will join upGrad’s cap table. 

upGrad’s spokesperson informed Inc42 that the acquisition will help upGrad strengthen its capabilities in the enterprisetech segment. With this, Harappa Education will also continue to operate independently. 

This is the second acquisition in line made by upGrad in the month of July. Earlier, upGrad’s subsidiary upGrad Rekrut acquired a recruitment and staffing company WOLVES India. 

“We are delighted to expand on the immense potential with Ronnie and Mayank. As a combined force, Harappa and upGrad will anchor our purpose and conviction to create a truly wholesome learning ecosystem for lifelong learners in India and abroad,”  Pramath Raj Sinha and Shreyasi Singh, founders of Harappa Education, said. 

Founded in 2018 by Sinha and Singh, the New Delhi-based B2B edtech startup offers self-paced online courses to working professionals across organisations. It offers courses in a range of areas such as personality development, career growth, emotional intelligence and productivity, among others.  

Harappa presently has a clientele of 100 medium and large-sized organisations. As per the company, it plans to clock INR 75 Cr revenue this year. 

“We see strong demand from our clients and with Harappa coming in, we believe we will be able to grow exponentially within the segment as we cross-leverage synergies. Pramath and Shreyasi come with a strong business legacy, which in turn, fuels our ambition of becoming the global edtech leader,” said Ronnie Screwvala and Mayank Kumar, founders of upGrad. 

Launched in 2015, the edtech unicorn has a user base of 3 Mn in more than 100 countries. Further, it has a clientele of 1000 companies that are working across the globe. Besides India, it also has a presence in other countries including the UK, US, Middle East, Singapore and Vietnam.

In June, upGrad had secured $225 Mn from the US-based test and assessment company,  Lupa Systems LLC and Educational Testing Service (ETS). Other investors–Temasek Holdings, family offices of Lakshmi Mittal and Sunil Bharti Mittal also participated in the round.

So far, the edtech unicorn has completed three acquisitions this year and 9 companies including WOLVES India since its inception, as shared by the startup.

In India’s edtech space, it faces competition from the likes of BYJU’S, Udemy, Unacademy and Vedantu. 

According to an Inc42 report, India’s edtech market is likely to be pegged at $10.4 Bn by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 39% during the period 2020-2025. 

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Update| 2:11 PM 

The number of acquisitions made by upGrad has been updated in the story