EdTech Firm Getmyuni Acquires Avagmah from AEON Learning

With the acquisition Getmyuni will enable universities to offer online degrees

Benguluru based edtech startup GetMyUni has acquired online learning company Avagmah from AEON Learning in an all-cash deal on June 18th 2020. Avagmah, founded in 2015, had raised $5M from marquee investors like Lionrock Capital, Zodius Capital, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Atul Nishar, MEMG(Manipal Group) before it merged with Acadgild to form AEON Learning. 

Avagmah is a full stack OPM (online program manager) and enables universities to fully outsource their online programs. Through this acquisition, Getmyuni now enters the online certification and degree-granting space which has seen tremendous growth over the last couple of years and an even more significant uptick post Covid-19. Avagmah has worked with some top tier universities and colleges such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, Pondicherry University, Bharathidasan University, Alagappa University, NIT Kurukshetra to name a few.

Getmyuni is a TimesInternet backed edtech platform which helps students with their post K-12 learning journey. It owns and operates getmyuni.com, ieltsmaterial.com and thecollegemonk.com. Post the Avagmah acquisition Getmyuni will be using its existing distribution of a 40M annual user base and 300+ university partners to enter the OPM space.

"Since inception, we have always wanted to create impact at scale. Our core business of student acquisition for universities across India and abroad has grown over 200% since 2019. This acquisition allows us to complete the value chain for our users, by directly impacting the content delivery part of the business too. After the lockdown, online learning adoption has surged and there are huge regulatory tailwinds which suggest that this would end up being a multi B$ market, very similar to how it has panned out OPMs like 2U in the west. 

This acquisition allows us to pursue our vision to make higher education accessible to everyone in India, irrespective of their financial status or access to traditional offline setup, wherein private education is too expensive and public, very average in outcomes," said Upneet Grover, CEO and Founder of Getmyuni.

The OPM space is booming and with this acquisition Getmyuni is well positioned for the to be a category leader in this space.Upneet Grover- Founder and CEO of GetMyUni.

AEON Learning Raises $3.2 Mn in Series B from Ranjan Pai’s MEMG Family Office LLP

AEON Learning, a leading edtech company based out of Bangalore has raised USD 3.2mn in Series B funding from MEMG Family Office LLP, a fund set up by Dr. Ranjan Pai, chairman of the Manipal Education and Medical Group. AEON will use the latest investments towards growing business from its university partnerships, and skill programs. The startup expects to reach a student base of over 100,000 in the next 5 years and is currently operating in India and the US.

AEON Learning, offers its platforms Avagmah and Acadgild, that has continuing higher education offered by its academic partners and technology skills courses to working professionals; helping them upgrade their skills and capabilities to remain relevant in today’s fast evolving employment scenario.

Karthik KS, founder and CEO of AEON Learning says, “The combined and complementary strengths of Avagmah and Acadgild have already positioned AEON Learning at the forefront of the tech-enabled education revolution in India. With a proven track record of successful execution we are now ready to scale up and serve more users with an integrated portfolio of technology skills and in-demand higher education courses.”

“We are glad to have MEMG Family Office LLP as our investment partners who believe in our vision of making continuing education more accessible to working professionals worldover and supporting in growing our existing 7 academic partnerships and technology skills programs ”, added Karthik.

Dr. Ranjan Pai, CEO and MD of MEMG says, “Skills gap is a huge roadblock for continuing economic growth not just in India, but around the world. AEON Learning has the right product portfolio and a highly competent leadership team, which is making a difference in the evolving online education industry. The global online education market opportunity is huge, and we are glad to partner and support AEON Learning as they gear up to leverage this opportunity.”

In future, AEON Learning plans to expand to new geographies and go global with its academic collaborations. The company will continue to explore fundraise to realise this ambition. AEON Learning currently has a total student base of 20,000 spanning across 66 countries, and works with 7 leading institutes and university partners, 36 corporate partners, with 20% business originating from the US.

Recently, AEON Learning acquired the business of online edtech startup Acadgild, which takes a differentiated approach and offers a hybrid model that combines live classes and an online platform for learning. Acadgild was co-founded by Vikalp Jain and Vinod Dham in 2014.

AEON Learning has cumulatively secured $6.5 million from marquee investors like Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys; Atul Nishar, founder of Hexaware and Aptech Computer Education; Singapore based Lionrock Capital; Neeraj Bhargava, of Zodius Capital, Jupiter Capital and Enki in the past. Both Avagmah and Acadgild have been promoted by GrowthStory.

In the last financial year, AEON Learning has expanded its operations from just in South India to now being present in 150 towns and cities across the country and have posted a combined growth of 100%. The company aims to tap into the fast growing online higher education market, which is pegged to be a $1.96 billion industry by 2021 (as per a latest KPMG-Google report).

Last week only, an another edtech startup CollPoll has raised undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A funding round led by Manipal Global Education Services.

In November 2017, an another edtech startup Perspectico raised seed funding from Delhi University and Government of Delhi Incubator.

Additionally, AICTE tied-up with Fourth Ambit, a Kerala-based edtech startup, to connect over 10,000 tech insitutes across India through online portals.

AEON Learning Raises $3.2 Mn in Series B from Ranjan Pai’s MEMG Family Office LLP

AEON Learning, a leading edtech company based out of Bangalore has raised USD 3.2mn in Series B funding from MEMG Family Office LLP, a fund set up by Dr. Ranjan Pai, chairman of the Manipal Education and Medical Group. AEON will use the latest investments towards growing business from its university partnerships, and skill programs. The startup expects to reach a student base of over 100,000 in the next 5 years and is currently operating in India and the US.

AEON Learning, offers its platforms Avagmah and Acadgild, that has continuing higher education offered by its academic partners and technology skills courses to working professionals; helping them upgrade their skills and capabilities to remain relevant in today’s fast evolving employment scenario.

Karthik KS, founder and CEO of AEON Learning says, “The combined and complementary strengths of Avagmah and Acadgild have already positioned AEON Learning at the forefront of the tech-enabled education revolution in India. With a proven track record of successful execution we are now ready to scale up and serve more users with an integrated portfolio of technology skills and in-demand higher education courses.”

“We are glad to have MEMG Family Office LLP as our investment partners who believe in our vision of making continuing education more accessible to working professionals worldover and supporting in growing our existing 7 academic partnerships and technology skills programs ”, added Karthik.

Dr. Ranjan Pai, CEO and MD of MEMG says, “Skills gap is a huge roadblock for continuing economic growth not just in India, but around the world. AEON Learning has the right product portfolio and a highly competent leadership team, which is making a difference in the evolving online education industry. The global online education market opportunity is huge, and we are glad to partner and support AEON Learning as they gear up to leverage this opportunity.”

In future, AEON Learning plans to expand to new geographies and go global with its academic collaborations. The company will continue to explore fundraise to realise this ambition. AEON Learning currently has a total student base of 20,000 spanning across 66 countries, and works with 7 leading institutes and university partners, 36 corporate partners, with 20% business originating from the US.

Recently, AEON Learning acquired the business of online edtech startup Acadgild, which takes a differentiated approach and offers a hybrid model that combines live classes and an online platform for learning. Acadgild was co-founded by Vikalp Jain and Vinod Dham in 2014.

AEON Learning has cumulatively secured $6.5 million from marquee investors like Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys; Atul Nishar, founder of Hexaware and Aptech Computer Education; Singapore based Lionrock Capital; Neeraj Bhargava, of Zodius Capital, Jupiter Capital and Enki in the past. Both Avagmah and Acadgild have been promoted by GrowthStory.

In the last financial year, AEON Learning has expanded its operations from just in South India to now being present in 150 towns and cities across the country and have posted a combined growth of 100%. The company aims to tap into the fast growing online higher education market, which is pegged to be a $1.96 billion industry by 2021 (as per a latest KPMG-Google report).

Last week only, an another edtech startup CollPoll has raised undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A funding round led by Manipal Global Education Services.

In November 2017, an another edtech startup Perspectico raised seed funding from Delhi University and Government of Delhi Incubator.

Additionally, AICTE tied-up with Fourth Ambit, a Kerala-based edtech startup, to connect over 10,000 tech insitutes across India through online portals.

Kris Gopalkrishnan Backed AEON Leaning Acquires Online Edtech Platform Acadgild for $10 Mn

Bengaluru based edtech company AEON Learning Private Limited, which is backed by Kris Gopalkrishnan, today announced that it has acquired Acadgild, an online edtech startup that offers high-end tech skills to mid-career IT professionals for $10 million in an all stock deal. As a result of this acquisition, AEON Learning emerges to be one of the largest players in the online education industry for ambitious young busy working professionals in India encompassing both education and skill development courses. AEON reaches to 22,000 students across 66 countries, with 20% business originating from the US. The company aims to tap into the fast growing online higher education market, which is pegged to be a $1.96 billion industry by 2021 (as per a latest KPMG-Google report)

Karthik KS, Founder and CEO of AEON Learning said, “Acadgild’s leadership and strengths in delivering cutting-edge short-term IT skills complement Avagmah’s leadership in supporting universities in offering their long term courses using technology. This acquisition offers us a tremendous opportunity to shape the future of the global workforce to produce readily deployable skilled talent. The acquisition was the result of finding a perfect synergy of technology, talent and target audience between Acadgild and Avagmah.

Acadgild takes a differentiated approach and offers a hybrid model that combines live classes and an online platform for learning. Acadgild offers programs on leading edge technology skills with hands-on mentorship from industry experts. It works with various corporates offering over 35 industry ready skill development courses, some of them being android programing, analytics, big data and more.

Vikalp Jain (co-founder of Acadgild), who joins as President of AEON Learning said, “There are clear synergies in the business processes and target markets of both Avagmah and Acadgild and this acquisition puts us in a formidable position to address both education and reskilling needs of working professionals and will help us grow and scale faster than ever”

AEON Learning till date has raised a cumulative funding of $6.5 million and expects to reach a student base of over 100,000 in 5 years time.

Acadgild received initial investment from venture capital firm Jupiter Capital, Enki and K Ganesh of GrowthStory and works with corporates like GE, Capgemini, Cognizant, Oracle and more. Avagmah is backed by marquee investors like Kris Gopalakrishnan of Infosys, Sri Hari of Lion Rock Capital, Atul Nissar of Aptech and Meena Ganesh.