Unacademy Acquires Chandigarh-Based PrepLadder for $50 Million

Unacademy, the e-learning platform, on Tuesday announced its acquisition of Chandigarh-based ed-tech startup PrepLadder for $50 million (roughly Rs. 373.2 crores). PrepLadder that was founded in 2016 specialises in courses aimed at medical aspirants in the country. Unacademy through this acquisition hopes to strengthen its presence in medical entrance examination categories such as NEET PG and Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE). Unacademy back in February received $110 million (roughly Rs. 788.48 crores) funding from General Atlantic and social media giant Facebook.

According to a press note shared by the company, Unacademy in the last three months recorded a 100 percent increase in its paid subscriber base. The average daily watch time across Unacademy platforms has also witnessed a steep increase of 100 percent, the company in the statement claimed. The steady rise in userbase and watch time comes at a time when there's a growing emphasis on online learning, owing to the coronavirus pandemic. PrepLadder, on the other hand, has over 85,000 active subscribers.

"As we strengthen our position as a market leader in the test prep market, bringing PrepLadder on board will play a strategic role for Unacademy in the medical entrance examinations category," Chief Execute Officer and Co-Founder of Unacademy, Gaurav Munjal said in a statement.

Back in March, Unacademy had acquired online preparation platform, Kreatryx. The company in February raised $110 million (roughly Rs. 824 crores) from Facebook, General Atlantic, and Sequoia India. Unacademy currently has over 10,000 educators and 3 crore learners.

Last month, the company's competitor in the ed-tech ecosystem, Byju received an undisclosed amount of investment from Mary Meeker's equity fund Bond. In January, the Bengaluru-based startup had raised $200 million (roughly Rs. 1,500 crores) in a funding round led by Tiger Global at a valuation of around $8 billion (roughly Rs. 60,470 crores).

Similarly, Byju has also seen a growth in its online traffic owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a report by TechCrunch, Byju's is in advanced stages of talks to acquire Gurugram-based ed-tech startup Doubtnut for more than $125 million (roughly Rs. 936.5 crores). With this acquisition, the company will hope to expand its reach into smaller cities and towns.

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