Byju’s is continuing its acquisition spree. The edtech giant is in advanced talks to acquire Tynker, a US-based coding platform for kids, as per the Next Big Brand internal sources. There is no confirmation about financial details yet. If the acquisition talks go through, the edtech firm will strengthen its operations further globally.
Byju’s May Acquire Tynker Soon
Byju’s is on a funding and acquisition spree since last year. Due to its aggressive funding approach, Byju’s has become the most valued Indian startup firm with a valuation of $16.5 billion. It is continuously investing in these fundings to acquire edtech startups globally.
As per Next Big Brand’s internal sources, edtech firm Byju’s is under advanced discussions with Tynker, an online coding platform for kids to acquire the latter as India’s most valuable internet company takes steps to deepen its presence in the US and expand into other English-speaking markets.
Tynker will help the Bengaluru-based edtech company accelerates its overseas expansion plan. A few months back, Byju’s acquired Epic, an online reading platform in the USA to venture into a new complementary segment—online reading. The deal was closed in $500 million that was a mix of cash and stock deal. In 2019, Byju’s bought US-based educational gaming startup Osmo.
Recently, Byju’s has observed an exponential growth in its business due to schools shut down globally because of pandemics. Byju’s also revealed that it will invest over $1 billion in North America to establish its online empire.
Why Tynker’s Acquisition is Important for Byju’s?
Tynker, which targets 5-18 years of students in the USA to learn coding skills, will be available in other English-speaking markets such as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada if the deal is closed. This is another attempt by Byju’s to establish itself as the world leader in K12 online studies.
Byju already had Whitehat Jr, a coding platform for kids in India, but is still interested in Tynker for two major reasons. First, it will help Byju’s to strengthen its operations in the USA by already subscribed to kids. Second, Tynker has a different coding approach than Whitehat Jr. In Tynker, kids don’t type the programs, but they combine already written building blocks to design a meaningful solution.
Whitehat Jr was already in many controversies due to its exaggerated claims in advertising and a wrong approach to teaching coding skills. So, Byju’s may launch Tynker in India to establish trust among kids to develop their coding skills.
Byju’s has made around twelve acquisitions in recent years. Besides Aakash and Epic, it also acquired tutoring firm HashLearn and doubt clearing platform Scholr, kids learning platform Toppr, and advanced technology-based firm Great Learning.
Acquiring Tynker will help Byju’s expand its US footprint with access to more than 4,100 learning modules and 60 million kids in Tynker’s existing user base, which more than doubled over the last year due to the pandemic. The coding platform conducts block-based coding challenges to teach Javascript and Python simply and effectively.
