upGrad has expanded its online course categories by acquiring short-term course-oriented startup KnowledgeHut. With the help of Bangaluru based startup’s acquisition, upGrad is looking to establish itself in the international market by the lucrative short-term skilling courses market.
upGrad Buys KnowledgeHut
Last month, upGrad reserved $250 million for mergers and acquisitions to do inorganic growth of the edtech startup. Under that initiative, the edtech firm has closed a deal to buy short course provider KnowledgeHut, founded by Subramanyam Reddy in 2011.
KnowledgeHut offers 200+ courses across in-demand areas of web development, machine learning, AI development, data science, project management, IT services management, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and more.
Now onwards, KnowledgeHut will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of upGrad. Reddy will still operate the firm as the CEO. The company will be renamed to ‘KnowledgeHut, an upGrad company’.
How KnowledgeHut will Help upGrad?
upGrad claims that the sector of the short-term course is worth $58 billion. And, with KnowledgeHut, upGrad wants to establish itself as the leader of the segment of the short-term course.
With this deal, upGrad is venturing into the short-term upskilling and reskilling segment which it claims has a market potential of over $58 Bn. This move will also allow upGrad to foray into global markets.
The Mumbai-based edtech company will gain access to KnowledgeHut’s global base of 250K learners. KnowledgeHut is expected to cross INR 300 Cr in revenue next year, 65% of which will be from countries across North America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
Talking about the recent deal with upGrad, Reddy said, “Given our position in global markets, this synergy with upGrad will further strengthen and support that vision. The acquisition paves the way for upGrad to empower B2B customer segments across geographies including the United States and the Asia Pacific.”
upGrad raised $120 million and $40 million from Temasek and IFC in April 2021 to reach a valuation of $850 million. The company aims to achieve revenue worth $2 Bn by 2026.
