Byju's acquires Mumbai based WhiteHat Jr for $ 300 million

Byju’s has acquired edtech startup WhiteHat Jr. for $300 million as the Indian online learning giant looks to expand its dominant reach in the country. The all-cash deal makes 18-month-old Mumbai-headquartered WhiteHat Jr., which offers online coding classes to school-going students in India and the U.S., the fastest exit story at this size in the Indian startup ecosystem.

This partnership is timely with the Government of India pushing skills such as coding from early classes with the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Sources peg the deal at $300 million.

After the acquisition, Byju's will make significant investments in WhiteHat Jr’s technology platform, product innovation while expanding the teacher base to cater to demand from new markets. WhiteHat Jr. Founder, Karan Bajaj will continue to lead and scale this business in India and the US.

“We started WhiteHat Jr. to make kids creators instead of consumers of technology. Technology is at the centre of every human interaction today and we had set out to create a coding curriculum that was being delivered live and connected students and teachers. Integration with Byju's will help take this idea to new heights and help unleash the remarkable creative potential of kids at a global scale,” stated Karan Bajaj, Founder, WhiteHat Jr,

WhiteHat Jr had recently announced their plans to expand to other global markets like Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) after growth in the US for its one-to-one online coding classes. After launching their courses in the US, since February this year, the company is growing at more than 100% MoM in the country.

Founded in November 2018, WhiteHat Jr. helps kids aged 6 to 14 years build commercial-ready games, animations and apps online using the fundamentals of coding. WhiteHat Jr. offers four levels of courses – Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Professional – for students in grades 1-9.

"Karan has proven his mettle as an exceptional founder and the credit goes to him and his team for creating coding programs that are loved by kids. Under his leadership the company has achieved phenomenal growth in India and the US in a short span of time,” said Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO, BYJU’S.