Byju’s acquires Pearson’s TutorVista, Edurite for global expansion

Ed-tech startup Byju's has acquired TutorVista and Edurite from British media and publishing group Pearson for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will help Byju’s in its planned international expansion and enhance its product portfolio, the company said in a statement.

“This partnership will enhance our product offerings and gives us access in some of the new markets when we launch our international products,” said Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO of Byju’s.

“With increased brand awareness, our core offering has witnessed massive adoption amongst students across grades (classes 4-12). We strongly believe that a product like ours can change the way students learn all across the world. Today, with a wider bandwidth, we have started creating similar products for the international markets that further boost our reach as well as product portfolio,” he added.

TutorVista was founded in 2005 by Krishnan Ganesh and Meena Ganesh as an online tutoring firm that provides digital content and technology platforms to private and government schools under long-term contracts. It acquired Edurite in 2007.

Further, Pearson in 2009 acquired a 17 percent stake in TutorVista and in January 2011 purchased another 59 percent stake for Rs577 crore. It increased its controlling stake to 80 percent from 76 percent in the same year. In February 2013, it acquired the remaining 20 percent.

“Edurite and TutorVista are pioneer brands in their respective spaces and enjoy great customer goodwill. We are pleased that a leading online education company in India sees value in the Edurite and TutorVista businesses, brands and employees,” Deepak Mehrotra, managing director at Pearson India said in a statement.

Byju's, founded in 2011 has raised around $170 million over the past year as it seeks to become a global player in the tech-driven K-12 education business. The company claims to have about 8 million app downloads and more than 400,000 paid consumers.