Temasek-backed upGrad enters short-term course segment with new acquisition

It’s the season for acquisitions in India’s edtech space. Higher education startup upGrad, backed by Singapore investment firm Temasek, has acquired upskilling platform KnowledgeHut. The acquisition comes days after decacorn Byju’s announced its US$600 million acquisition of Singapore-based edtech firm Great Learning.

upGrad did not disclose the value of the deal.

Last week, edtech unicorn Unacademy also acquired Rheo TV, a platform that helps professional game streamers earn money by livestreaming their gameplay.

(From left) upGrad co-founders Phalgun Kompalli, Mayank Kumar, and Ronnie Screwvala / Photo courtesy: upGrad

The KnowledgeHut acquisition comes just weeks after upGrad earmarked US$250 million for mergers and acquisitions to drive its growth for the next seven to nine months.

The acquisition also marks upGrad’s entry into the short-term course segment, which typically includes programs that take between two to four days to complete. The company currently offers courses that require between six months to four years to cover.

According to upGrad, the upskilling and reskilling segment has a market potential of over US$58 billion.

Founded in 2011, US-headquartered KnowledgeHut has trained over 250,000 professionals and helped more than 500 enterprises upskill their employees. The edtech firm offers over 200 courses in areas such as web development, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data science, and information technology service management.

Following the acquisition, KnowledgeHut will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of upGrad. Subramanyam Reddy, founder and director of KnowledgeHut, will step into a new role as the CEO of the rebranded entity, upGrad KnowledgeHut.

“The acquisition paves the way for upGrad to empower business-to-business customer segments across geographies including the US and the Asia Pacific,” said Reddy.

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KnowledgeHut is looking to rake in more than US$40 million in revenue next year, about 65% of which it expects will come from countries across North America, Southeast Asia, and West Asia.

Founded in 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli, and Ravijot Chugh, upGrad had earlier acquired recruitment and staffing company Rekrut India, coaching institute The Gate Academy, and video-enabled learning solutions platform Impartus.