Edukart, an edu-tech startup that had previously been backed by cricketer Yuvraj Singh and Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma has failed to raise fresh funds to sustain its operations. Thus, the company is now being acqui-hired(or to put is simply, being gulped up) by digital wallet service provider Paytm. The 50-odd personnel of the education startup will now be filling different responsibilities in the paments company.
Ishan Gupta, including founder and CEO of Earth Education Valley Pvt. Ltd, the parent company of Edukart, has joined Paytm as vice-president of business and is now looking after Paytm’s seller financing team. While the other employees of Edukart will handle various responsibilities across departments like sales, marketing, marketplace and payments.
While the team has been absorbed into Paytm, investors are also looking for a buyer for Edukart’s business. Finding a buyer is difficult in the current scenario, where very few edutech start-ups barring the likes of Simplilearn or Byju’s have managed to scale up.
said a source aware of the development, while Paytm also confirmed the deal.
Gupta said, while this is a no cash deal, the startup is in “talks for a strategic sale of its assets like brand, website and content with education companies”. The transaction is said to be a mix of cash-and-equity, which could be finalised in the next few weeks.
EduKart offers paid online educational courses and Paytm was one of the modes of payment for its listed courses. Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma had fueled $500,000 along with Manish Kheterpal in the startup in 2013. In June last year, EduKart had raised $1 million from multiple investors including Sharma himself. He was also a board member of the company.
The startup also backed by cricketer Yuvraj Singh was founded in 2011 by Ishan Gupta and Mayank Gupta. Later in 2014, Mayank Gupta quit the firm to join online electronics marketplace Zopper.
Before founding Edukart, Gupta worked with One97 Communications, Paytm’s parent arm, between October 2009 and March 2011. Now, post joining the firm he will be building a seller services ecosystem for merchants on Paytm which will include financing, marketing, packaging and fulfilment services. Paytm has about 130,000 sellers on its platform, and it is also planning to launch its payment bank operations next month.
