Edtech company BYJU’S and test prep services, Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL) have made their strategic partnership official. After the integration, BYJU’S will further invest to accelerate AESL’s growth.
This partnership brings together two large education brands in India - combining Aakash’s pedagogy expertise in the test-prep segment with BYJU’S content and tech capabilities. Post the merger, AESL founder J C Chaudhry and Aakash Chaudhry will continue to function independently. In 2019, AESL partnered with Blackstone to create India’s largest digitally enabled, omni-channel test preparation company.
Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO, BYJU’S said, “I am happy to have Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL), a market leader and the most trusted name in the test prep services, on board with us. Our complementary strengths will enable us to build capabilities, create engaging and personalised learning programs. The future of learning is hybrid and this union will bring together the best of offline and online learning, as we combine our expertise to create impactful experiences for students.”
Aakash Chaudhry, Managing Director, AESL said “At Aakash, we are looking to transform student experiences by steering innovative and digitally-enabled learning solutions. Together with BYJU’S, we will work towards building an omni-channel learning offering that will accelerate test-prep experience to the next level. While this partnership will enhance our operational verticals, Aakash will continue to operate as a separate entity with the same passion and commitment with which its Founder and Chairman J C Chaudhry incepted it.”
The addition of Aakash is a significant step towards strengthening BYJU’S product offering. It reiterates the company’s focus on creating impactful learning products for students by adding more verticals, subjects, and languages to the same platform.
Amit Dixit, Co-Head of Asia Acquisitions and Head of India Private Equity at Blackstone, said “We have always believed omni-channel will be the winning model in test prep and tutoring, and we look forward to being a part of the partnership between the two foremost companies in Indian supplementary education – Aakash and BYJU’S. The combination of Aakash and BYJU’S is highly synergistic and we are excited to help build India’s largest education company.”
With over 215+ centres, Aakash provides test preparatory services to students preparing for medical and engineering entrance exams, school/board exams, KVPY, NTSE, Olympiads, and other Foundation level exams.
Launched in 2015, BYJU’S has over 80 million students cumulatively learning from the app, 5.5 million annual paid subscriptions, and an annual renewal rate of 86 per cent. In just 6 months during the lockdown, BYJU’S has added 45 million new students to its platform.
