Blackstone buys majority stake in India’s Simplilearn for $250m

US-based private equity major Blackstone has agreed to acquire a majority stake in India-based edtech startup Simplilearn for US$250 million.

With the investment, the private equity firm marks its entry into the consumer tech space in Asia. Blackstone said it expects this to be the first of many such investments in Asia going forward.

Krishna Kumar, CEO and founder of Simplilearn / Photo credit: Simplilearn

With Blackstone entering the cap table, previous Simplilearn investors Kalaari Capital, Helion Venture Partners, and Mayfield Fund have exited the startup. The management of the edtech company remains the same.

Founded in 2010 by Krishna Kumar, Simplilearn offers over 100 programs to help early- to mid-career professionals gain digital skills across cloud, data science, AI, machine learning, and more. The platform offers these programs in partnership with universities and enterprises worldwide to give learners more access to academic and industry exposure.

It is currently collaborating with educational institutes such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Schwarzman College of Computing, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Jagdish Sheth School of Management, and companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and KPMG.

As online education and upskilling continues to gain traction amid the pandemic, India’s e-learning sector is on a path to become a US$30 billion industry in the next 10 years, according to a report.

“Blackstone can add significant value to our company because of their scale, commitment to building businesses, and global network, which will enable us to develop partnerships with businesses and universities as Simplilearn continues to expand around the world,” said Kumar, who also serves as the firm’s CEO.

According to Simplilearn, which is based in San Francisco and Bengaluru, it has helped over 2 million professionals and 2,000 companies across 150 countries get training. Its courses allow professionals to develop digital skills and help businesses upskill their workforce to keep up with the constantly changing demands driven by digitalization.

See also: The key players in Southeast Asia’s growing edtech scene

Blackstone, which currently has US$50 billion in assets under management in India, has investments in companies such as IT service management firm Mphasis, education player Aakash Educational Services, glass packaging maker Piramal Glass, and real estate company Prestige Group.