Cloudfix can now report; India’s most valuable startup, Byju’s buys Epic for $500m. Byju’s report to have acquired California-headquartered reading platform Epic for a deal of $500 million. This is the latest move in Byju’s intent to set its footprint on the U.S market.
According to Byju’s reporting the Epic founders Suren Markosian and Kevin Donahue have agreed to a deal that include both cash and stock. Epic founders will continue to run the business.
Who is EPIC.
EPIC is a Redwood City based startup was founded in 2013, by two founders who wondered ‘How do we make books more accessible to kids?’.
They created the first Epic experience, through the platform Epic collects and aggregate data on how many kids read a book, how deeply they engage and where exactly their interest drop.
Epic targets kids ages 12 and below and is currently in over 90% of elementary schools in the United States. Currently there are over 2 million teachers and over 50 million kids on the platform. Between 2020 and 2021 the platform added over 30 million kids.
EPIC is also shipping print version of their original tittles. EPIC is founded by former Googler, has had strong backing in the valley. Evolution media has been on of its first backer.
Techrunch reports that Epic founders first met Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran 5 years but acquisition talks have begun just this year.
Byju’s Interest in Epic.
Byju’s CEO Raveendran mentioned that he took closer look at EPIC when he realized that his son was using the EPC App.
The Edtech has raised over $1.5billion during pandemic much of which is being used for expansion in the US.
Byju’s is expected to make over $100m this year in the US. Raveendran reports that Byju’s is on track to spend over $1b in its North America business.
Byju’s Latest Acquisitions.
Epic is just one of the latest acquisitions Byju’s war chest. Some of the other acquisitions include Osmo for $120 million, online coding platform WhiteHat Jr. for $300 million, coaching centre chain Aakash for about $1 billion.
Byju’s is in the process of finalizing acquisition of Indian edtech startups Toppr and Gradeup.