Byju’s has had a busy year, and even though it has already become the boggest edtech platform in the world, it does not plan to settpe down anytime soon. The edtech decacorn has been on an acquisition spree in recent months, and US-based K-12 creative coding platform Tynker is the latest in a long line to have been acquired by the firm.
In fact, Tynker is the ninth acquisition made by Byju’s this year, which has spent over $2 billion to acquire Aakash, great learning, GradeUp, Epic, and other firms in the recent past. At $16.5 billion, Byju’s is the most valued startup in India, and it is looking to expand its footprint in both domestic and global arenas and cement its position as the leader in the K-12 vertical ahead of its IPO in the US. Byju’s is also looking to raise $1.5 billion from investors and attain a valuation of over $21 billion.
The cash-and-stock deal between Byju’s and Tynker will enable the coding platform to expand its user base and rope in more kids, educators, schools, and coding camps globally. The deal will also give Byju’s access to Tynker’s user base, helping in its aggressive expansion overseas.
Founded by Krishna Vedati (CEO), Srinivas Mandyam (CTO), and Kelvin Chong (Chief Architect), Tynker already has over 60 million kids on its platform and helps make learning more fun with the use of modern technology such as robots and drones. It has partnered with and is present in over 1,00,000 schools across 150 nations.
“We have been looking at their product for a long time. They have built a strong community of students—those who love to code,” Byju’s founder and CEO Byju Raveendran said, adding, “What we are getting here is a strong asynchronous platform complementing synchronous expertise which we have through WhiteHat Jr—a combination of this creates more options for students.”
“At Tynker, we believe that kids of all ages should develop the critical thinking skills needed to become the ‘makers of tomorrow,’” said Krishna Vedati, co-founder and CEO of Tynker. “Our focus is on understanding what kids are passionate about – whether that’s building games, making animations, or modding Minecraft – and we then create specific experiences, apps, and personalized learning paths to empower them to create with code. We wholeheartedly believe that joining the BYJU family can help children on a global level develop the fundamental STEM skills that will serve them well as they progress in school and ultimately help prepare them for careers in both technical and non-technical fields.”
Tynker is actually the third edtech company based in the US that has been acquired by Byju’s in recent times, after digital reading platform Epic and educational gaming company Osmo. According to Raveendran, all the three acquisitions complemented each other.
“All the three acquisitions are different and complementary to each other. We are not making these integrations to neutralize competition. These are skill-sets we don’t have, and marketing expertise we don’t have,” Raveendran said, adding, “With the $1 billion, we will also be investing in scaling these platforms — building brand awareness for Byju’s in the US in the next 12 to 18 months.”
