Edtech major Byju's acquires AR startup Whodat

Contributing towards its acquisition mode this year, edtech behemoth BYJU'S has paid an undisclosed sum for Bengaluru-based computer vision and augmented reality (AR) startup Whodat. This is BYJU's fifth major acquisition this year, following mega-deals with Aakash Educational Services, Great Learning, Toppr, and US-based Epic.

"We are incredibly excited to partner with Byju's on a mission to make students across the world fall in love with learning. Whodat has had an incredible journey so far and this will leapfrog our impact to the next level," said Sriram Ganesh, co-founder, Whodat.

In the meantime, Anita Kishore, chief strategy officer at Byju's, stated that the agreement will allow them to accelerate their product roadmap in order to provide immersive educational products across product lines.

Whodat, founded in 2013 by Sriram Ganesh and Kaushik Das, has built an AR platform based on computer vision that allows developers to build apps that require location accuracy beyond what GPS alone can provide. The technology was originally intended to power augmented reality apps, but it is now also used to power applications in mobility and robotics.

The above-mentioned technology will thus aid in the development of Byju's products, influencing students' learning experiences. Following the transaction, Venture Fund Ideaspring Capital, which had invested $600,000 in Whodat, has exited the company.

This acquisition correlates with BYJU's focus on creating impactful learning products for students by adding more verticals, subjects, and languages to its diverse platform.

Since 2019, the company has relied on large acquisitions to gain a greater share of the Indian edtech market. In August 2020, it acquired$300 million for startup WhiteHat Jr.

While abroad, BYJU's paid a record $500 million for the acquisition of Epic, a US-based reading platform, in order to achieve a firm position in the US market.

The company has over 6.5 million annual paid subscriptions and an annual renewal rate of 86%. Between April and September of last year, BYJU's platform welcomed 45 million new students.

With a valuation of $16.5 billion, BYJU is currently the most valuable Indian startup.

Bangalore-based, Byju is a multinational educational technology company founded in 2011, by Raveendran and Divya Gokulnath. Byju's app was developed by Think and Learn Pvt Ltd.

Also Read:

• IPO-bound Healthium Medtech acquires SGK Labs AbGel

Follow IndianStartupNews on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter for the latest updates from the startup ecosystem.