Upskilling platform upGrad acquires Harappa Education to establish leadership in enterprise learning in India

Mumbai-headquartered online upskilling platform upGrad has acquired Harappa Education for Rs 300 crore or $38 million in a cash and stock deal.

According to the company's statement, upGrad closed this transaction with present Harappa shareholders - Bodhi Tree Systems, (a newly formed platform between James Murdoch & Uday Shankar) and Co-founders Pramath Raj Sinha & Shreyasi Singh. All of them join the upGrad Cap table.

Pramath Raj Sinha and Shreyasi Singh co-founded Harappa. The New Delhi-based startup provides an online learning institution that offers self-paced courses to address the spiralling problem of poor employability, inadequate leadership, and an ill-equipped workforce. Harappa has an active clientele of 100 mid-large-sized organizations, the statement said.

“Similar to the integrated approach that we have been able to achieve in the B2C segment, we intend to offer a complete suite of products to our enterprise partners," said Ronnie Screwvala & Mayank Kumar, Co-founders of upGrad.

" A combination of upskilling courses along with these critical skills that Harappa has to offer would set us apart. We see strong demand from our clients and with Harappa coming in, we believe we'll be able to grow exponentially within the segment as we cross-leverage the synergies. Pramath and Shreyasi come with a strong business legacy, which in turn, further fuels our ambition of becoming the global edtech leader,” Ronnie adds.

Started in 2015, upGrad spans several segments—from test prep to study abroad—and undergrad degrees to campus courses in 250 universities. Its offerings include finance, law, business, and software for the 18-60 age group.

Commenting on the development, Pramath Raj Sinha and Shreyasi Singh, Founders of Harappa Education, said, “Consolidations get like-minded entrepreneurs together to build powerful, inspired formations. We are delighted to expand on the immense potential of our unique curriculum of social, cognitive and behavioral skills, with Ronnie and Mayank, who have created such an exciting global company."

"As a combined force, Harappa and upGrad will anchor our purpose and conviction to create a truly wholesome learning ecosystem for lifelong learners in India and abroad, with our time-tested pedagogy, flagship programs and rich partnerships to guarantee unmatched outcomes for our learners and clients," the founders added.

EY acted as the advisor for Harappa on the transaction.

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