Byju’s continues acquisition spree, buys Austrian math-learning co GeoGebra
Byju’s, the world’s most valuable edtech company, has acquired Austria-headquartered GeoGebra. The Austrian company has a dynamic, interactive and collaborative mathematics learning tool. According to the sources, the value of the transaction is about $100 million. This marks Byju’s 9th major buy this year.
This acquisition complements Byju’s overall product strategy and integrates GeoGebra’s capabilities to enable the creation of new product offerings and learning formats to its existing mathematics portfolio. It furthers Byju’s aim to make math more engaging, leading to better learning outcomes. This synergy of two like-minded companies will bring comprehensive, personalised and immersive learning experiences to all students.
GeoGebra will continue to operate as an independent unit within the Byju’s group under the leadership of its Founder and Developer, Markus Hohenwarter.
“The GeoGebra team has built a powerful and stimulating platform that complements Byju’s mission of providing impactful learning for students. Designed to improve mathematical understanding, it offers significant features that provide interactive resources that adapt to every child’s style and pace of learning,” said Anita Kishore, chief strategy officer, Byju’s. “At Byju’s, with the help of innovative teaching and technology, we have been making math fun, visual, and engaging. And with GeoGebra on board, we will continue to further enhance, reimagine and transform the way Math is taught and learned.”
GeoGebra, with a rapidly expanding community of over 100 million learners across over 195 countries, brings together geometry, algebra, spreadsheets, graphing, statistics and calculus in one easy-to-use format. Mathematical thinking is grounded in visual processing and GeoGebra’s interactive, multilingual, and stimulating learning environment makes math contextual, fun and visual. The companies didn’t reveal the value of the transaction.
Launched in 2015, Byju’s is a leading firm in offering personalized learning programs for school students in India. It has over 115 million students cumulatively learning from the app, 7 million annual paid subscriptions, and an annual renewal rate of 86 per cent.
“Together with our combined strengths, we will have a wider reach and the best resources to build innovative and exciting next-generation learning formats”, said Kishore.
The platform has dynamic and connected geometry and algebra learning tools that aid in formulating and proving geometric conjectures. With an easy-to-use interface, the software can be either downloaded as an app or can be used online. The curriculum is available in multiple languages for students around the world.
“GeoGebra was born out of a passion to help students learn math in a visually appealing and engaging manner.
Our shared passion for learning and teaching resonates with BYJU’S, making them a perfect partner for our onward journey,” said Markus Hohenwarter, Founder and Developer of GeoGebra. “I am confident that this partnership will help millions of students learn mathematics in an interactive way, in turn making them overcome their fear of math and learn to master it.”
On a mission to deliver rapid, sustainable growth at scale, Markus together with Michael Borcherds and Stephen Jull co-founded their company in 2013 to ensure GeoGebra would have solid footings from which to deliver its vision over the long term. GeoGebra includes both an enterprise and philanthropic non-profit organisation. Their commercial services support more than 300 established education service companies and startups, while the non-profit supports students, teachers, researchers, and government agencies across many countries.
Byju’s said it welcomes the social mission of GeoGebra and acknowledges its importance for mathematics education world-wide. The firm said it is ensuring GeoGebra’s current apps and web services will continue to be available free of charge, putting the power of mathematics into the hands of students and teachers everywhere.
Byju’s is on an acquisition spree in India and globally as the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of online education. Students and professionals are looking to upgrade their skills, while schools and offices remain shut.
The start-up has now acquired about 9 companies in India and the US this year and spent more than $2 billion in the past several months on these acquisitions, according to sources. The inorganic route is expected to help Bengaluru-based Byju’s to dominate the edtech market.
In September this year, it acquired US-based Tynker, a leading K-12 creative coding platform for about $200 million, according to the sources. Some of the other deals include the $1 billion buy of New Delhi-based Aakash Educational Services (AESL) in April and the $600 million acquisition of Singapore-headquartered Great Learning, a leading global player in professional and higher education.
In September, it also acquired Gradeup, one of India’s largest online exam preparation platforms. In July this year, Byju’s acquired US-based digital reading platform Epic for $500 million. In 2019, Byju’s bought US-based educational gaming company Osmo for $120 million in a stock-and-cash deal. In August 2020, Byju’s also bought WhiteHat Jr, which teaches coding to children, for $300 mn.
Byju’s is aiming to become one of the largest players in the space in the US, with a target to hit revenues of $1 billion in the next three years.
Over the last year and a half, besides Tynker, Byju’s has acquired two additional major edtech companies in the U. S. – Osmo, and Epic. All three acquisitions map back to Byju’s goal of investing $1 billion in the U. S. edtech market over the next three years.
