Ronnie Screwvala’s Upgrad Acqui-Hires Pyoopil Education Technologies

Ronnie Screwvala’s edtech platform UpGrad has acqui-hired Delhi-based SaaS platform Pyoopil Education Technologies. The development comes in line with UpGrad’s plans to enter in the $1 Bn+ corporate training segment of India, as per an official statement.

Post the acquisition, Pyoopil will join UpGrad’s team and will continue to develop technology on its platform.

Founded in 2013 by Harsh Tripathi, Ankan Adhikari, and Tushar Banka, Pyoopil offers mobile-based SaaS products to companies for online training programmes of their employees. The app comes equipped with a learning platform that enables peer engagement and mentorship for its users.

Commenting on the development, Harsh Tripathi, co-founder and CEO, Pyoopil said, “We have been in touch with UpGrad for some time now and given our shared drive and values on how we were approaching online education, we decided it would be best to join hands and do this together.”

As per an official statement, the acquisition will allow UpGrad to cater to the B2B segment and enhance its B2C offerings as well.

Founded in 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, and Ravijot Chugh, UpGrad offers online education programmes to professionals looking to scale their skills. It offers courses on data analytics, angel investing, digital marketing, and product management among others.

Commenting on the acquisition, Ronnie Screwvala and Mayank Kumar, co-founders, UpGrad, in a joint statement said, “We are seeing a strong demand from companies who are looking to train their employees at a large scale. And UpGrad’s highly engaging online learning solution allows us to deploy learning solutions for enterprise at massive scale. Our new programmes for corporate will focus on imparting skills around data, digital, and innovation for workforce across corporates.”

Of late, edtech startups have received significant interest from investors. In May 2016, Blume Ventures invested an undisclosed amount in the Pre-Series A round of Prepathon, a learning app for competitive exams. In August 2016, Bengaluru-based online learning platform Unacademy raised $1 Mn funding in a second round of external investment.

In September 2016, Bengaluru-based edtech startup BYJU’s raised $50 Mn in funding led by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), along with Sequoia Capital. Online study platform Zeroinfy also raised an undisclosed amount in Seed funding from Calcutta Angels Network (CAN).

Other major players in the sector include Edukart, classteacher.com, Embibe, Toppr, and AlmaMapper.

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