upGrad to acquire Global Study Partners
Edtech player, in its first-ever overseas acquisition and eighth buyout, will get hold of Australia-based study abroad company; It’s aggressively growing through inorganic route as it has earmarked a war chest of $250 mn for M&A deals
Bengaluru: Leading edtech playerupGrad will acquire Global Study Partners (GSP), which is the largest study abroad company in Australia, for AUD16 million (around US$12.5 million), with an additional commitment of AUD 10 million (US$ 7.15 million) in future, the company said on Monday.
The Sydney-headquartered GSP has a network of over 600 institutions in Australia, Britain, Canada, and the US, and over 1,300 recruitment partners that include education and migration agents, schools, test preparation centres, and alumni associations among others.
The segment focusing on study abroad is one of the fastest growing segments in the education sector. With this acquisition, which is the first international acquisition of upGrad, the edtech major is trying to cash in from emerging opportunities. Australia is one of the biggest destination markets for Indian students.
"As an integrated edtech leader, we span the entire gamut of a learner's need from the age of 18-50, and in that, study abroad is a key growth initiative for us -- not just out of India, which is one of the two largest markets, but also for our learners internationally," chairman and co-founder Ronnie Screwvala said.
upGrad is aggressively growing through inorganic route as the company has earmarked a war chest of $250 million for M&A deals. The company has made its seventh acquisition in August this year when it acquired KnowledgeHut which operates inshort duration upskilling and reskilling segment.
upGrad turned into a unicorn in August this year after raising a total of $185 million from Temasek, the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) and IIFL at a valuation of $1.2 billion.
Currently, India has five edtech unicorns in the edtech segment. Apart from upGrad, Byju's, Unacademy, UpGrad and Eruditus are the other unicorns in the Indian edtech ecosystem.
India's consumer internet market is growing at a rapid pace. According to RedSeer, India's digital ecosystem is set to grow by 10x in the next 10 years due to accelerated internet adoption in the country facilitated by the pandemic.
Online grocery, pharma, edtech, travel, e-tailing, mobility, and bills and recharge, among others are integral to the consumer internet market in the country.
