Byju’s acquires US-based coding platform Tyker
Continuing its aggressive acquisition spree, Byju’s on Thursday said it will acquire K-12 creative coding platform Tynker for an undisclosed amount, as the edtech major seeks to further strengthen its presence in the US market. In July, Byju’s acquired US-based digital reading platform Epic for USD 500 million (approximately Rs 3,729.8 crore) and for USD 1 billion (approximately Rs 7,459.7 crore) to expand into the North American market over the next three years. An additional investment of Rs. its operation there.
Byju’s said in a statement on Thursday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Tynker. This acquisition will enable Tynker to introduce its creative coding platform to even more children, teachers, schools and coding camps globally.
Tinker’s creative coding platform has been used by over 60 million children and 100,000 schools in 150 countries. Since its inception in 2013, Tyker has helped kids create more than seven billion lines of code.
“Tynaker’s co-founders Krishna Vedati, Srinivas Mandyam and Kelvin Chong will remain in their roles and continue to fulfill Tynker’s mission of providing every child with a solid foundation in computer science, programming and critical thinking skills,” it said. .
Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO, Byju said, “Associating with Tynkor will reveal to us the potential to bring imagination to life for millions of students through coding.
“We aim to instill a love of programming among kids globally and we strongly feel that Tynker’s creative coding platform and vision to make programming fun and intuitive for kids will get us there even faster,” he added. “
This acquisition will help expand Byju’s US footprint – which has more than 100 million students on its platform – by providing access to Tynker’s existing global user base. The partnership is also important for both brands, who share a similar vision to democratize access to coding for students, the statement said.
Tynker’s focus is on understanding what kids are passionate about – whether it’s creating games, animations, or modding Minecraft – and then unique experiences to empower them to create with code, Creating apps and personalized learning paths, said Krishna Vedati, co-founder and CEO of Tyker.
“We wholeheartedly believe that joining Byju’s family can help children develop fundamental STEM skills on a global scale that will help them progress in school as well as for careers in both technical and non-technical fields. Will help prepare.” .
Over the past year and a half, Byju’s has acquired two additional major edtech companies in the US – Osmo and Epic.
The edtech space has seen strong growth globally, including in India, with the COVID-19 pandemic acting as an inflection point. Several offline classes went online to ensure continuity of education while adhering to social distancing norms.
Byju’s is estimated to have raised about $1.5 billion in multiple tranches since April last year. Byju’s (Think & Learn Pvt Ltd) is backed by marquee investors including General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Naspers, Silver Lake and Tiger Global.
Flush with funds, Byju’s is on an acquisition spree, buying Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL) for around USD 1 billion in April this year to strengthen its presence in the test preparation segment. In July, it acquired Singapore-headquartered Great Learning for USD 600 million (about Rs 4,466 crore), and announced an additional USD 400 million investment to strengthen its position in the professional and higher education segment. After that, it acquired Epic.
Prior to this, Byju’s had acquired TutorVista and Edurite (from Pearson in 2017), Osmo (2019) and coding training platform WhiteHat Junior for USD 300 million last year.
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