Schoolnet Buys Housing.com’s Advitiya Sharma Cofounded Learning App Genius Teacher

Edtech platform Schoolnet has acquired Mumbai’s K-12 focussed quiz-based learning app Genius Teacher in an all-stock deal.

However, the company did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.

With this buyout, Noida-based Schoolnet aims to tap on Genius Teacher’s market presence and reach over 10,000 private schools in the next three years. It also plans to build an AI-led teacher and student app to improve overall learning outcomes.

Post this acquisition, Genius Teachers’ cofounder and chief executive Advitiya Sharma will join Schoolnet as chief growth officer, according to a statement.  

ET reported the development first.

Schoolnet partners with subsidiaries and creates solutions for skill development for students and employment opportunities for teachers. The platform claims to have digitally transformed over 50,000 government schools across 7 countries and impacted more than 25 Mn students and teachers.

It has reported a revenue of INR 429 Cr in FY24 and an EBITDA of INR 69 Cr. 

Other edtech firms that operate in the K-12 space include GSV Ventures backed Lead and Blume Ventures backed Uolo.

Meanwhile, Genius Teacher was founded by Housing.com’s cofounder Sharma, along with Shashank Pachore and Ruturaj Atre in 2016. It is a quiz-based learning app, focused on the K-12 category. It equips government schools with apps built to learn Maths, Science and English in classrooms with AI technology.

Till date, Genius Teacher claims to have raised INR 24.6 Cr (around $3 Mn) from a clutch of angel investors like Kunal Shah, AngelList and VKG group among others.

“We had offers from institutional investors for funding but felt there could be a bigger game to be played by joining forces with Schoolnet” said Sharma.

Over the past few months, the edtech space has witnessed a lot of M&A activities, including edtech startup Adda247 acquiring testprep player Ekagrata Eduserv and Allen Career Institute acquiring Doubtnut among others.

According to Inc42’s Indian Tech Startup Funding Report 2023, the Indian edtech startups could only secure a mere $283 Mn in 2023 compared to $2.4 Bn in 2022, registering a massive 88% year-on-year (YoY) decline. Also, the number of deals declined 45.91% YoY to 139 from 257 in 2022.

Imperative to mention that the Indian edtech space has laid off the most number of individuals in the last two years. As many as 24 Indian edtech startups sacked more than 14,616 employees during these years. 

Adding insult to injury, many edtech startups, including Lido, Udayy, Supen Learn, and DUX Education, were forced to shut down on the back of the looming industry-wide crisis of a fund crunch.