In today’s fast paced world, quality learning is important for students to succeed in the jobs of the

future. Yet, there is a “learning crisis” unfolding round the globe. In India, more than half of fifth
grade students cannot read second grade texts. The primary reason is the lack of good quality
teachers who tend to be more concentrated in big cities. Also, the learning culture is geared towards
memorizing, and not actually learning. To bridge this learning gap, Byju Raveendran created Byju’s, a
technology driven learning platform. Started in 2011, today, Byju’s is world’s largest EdTech
company, valued at USD 18 billion.
Integrating Technology with Education
Byju’s intent of coming up with an app in 2015, was to enable maximum students to use the
platform, and in a personalized manner. “Hyper personalization”, which means, every student is
shown his or her learning curve, is the center piece of Byju’s strategy. Today, Byju’s caters to a wide
spectrum of students, with a range of offerings. The content for school students is deconstructed
into 5-minute modules and aligns with all the three curriculums in India.

With this depth and breadth of offerings, one challenge which Byju’s faces is to keep up with the
quality it offers. Moreover, tech platforms are susceptible to rapid changes, and it is imperative for
Byju’s to innovate and implement them.

Building a Global Brand

To create a global brand, Bjyu’s has been on an acquisition spree over the last few years.
Fundamentally, Byju’s looks at three aspects in its targets:

 Alignment with Byju’s vision

 Synergies of resources and team quality
 Complementarity of product/technology

The infographic below shows the companies Byju’s has acquired over the last 6 years. The intent
behind the major acquisitions have been highlighted in table 1.1. The vision to build a global brand,
and expand across geographies, is what makes Byju’s the biggest EdTech company in the world. Yet
again, this brings with it, some inherent challenges. First, the synergies that Byju’s wishes to achieve
are more dynamic, and the complementarities need to be integrated such that the value addition in
not hampered. One such example is the acquisition of WhiteHat Jr by Byjus’s in 2020, and the hasty
aggressive ad campaign that followed. Although the perception was initially positive, down the line,
there was widespread criticism and backlash, which also tarnished the image of Byju’s as an EdTech
company.
 Targets Acquisition Analysis
Osmo  A platform with a strong foothold in US
market.
 Osmo employed a novel way to use
Augmented Reality (AR) to create
immersive content.
 Alignment in vision and mission with
Byju’s. Founders synergized on a
personal level, and target’s operations
were not interfered with.
WhiteHat Jr  High quality coding platform with
strong features was the impulse for
Byju’s.
 In line with Byju’s USP of hyper
personalization, as the platform
provided one-on-one coaching.
 One skepticism that came out was that
WhiteHat Jr was a relatively nascent
organization and was acquired by
Byju’s only 18 months after its
inception.
 Aakash Educational Services
Great Learning & Epic
 A pan India player with a legacy in the
exam prep space.
 Opportunity for Aakash to bring the
breadth of offline learning and launch
in online.
 A relatively slower acquisition with a
long negotiation period.
 A gateway for Byjus’s to enter the
upskilling-reskilling space.
 The increased importance of being up
to date in terms of their skillset was
highlighted during the pandemic.
 Epic, a part of Great Learning, is the
largest digital reading platform.

Considering the current landscape of the EdTech industry, digital learning has become substantially
important. The strategic path on which Byju’s has put itself, is like an edge of a knife. On one hand,
too much diversification can lead to dilution of quality in its offerings and on the other, can help
Byju’s become a global brand in the EdTech space.