Competition
Unacademy announces ESOPs buybackedit
Express Computers – Online
Unacademy, India’s largest learning platform, announced it will have an ESOPs buyback on December 10, 2020 for its current and exited employees, the second such liquidity event at the company founded 5 years back. All vested ESOPs until December 10, 2020 will be eligible for the buyback and current and exited employees may liquidate between 25% to 100% of vested ESOPs based on a specified scheme.
Unacademy to buy back shares worth Rs 2530 croreedit
Money Control – Online
Online learning firm Unacademy on October 15 said that it is buying back shares from current and former employees worth Rs 2530 crore, the latest in a series of quickly maturing companies which are giving employees some liquidity and rewarding their loyalty.
Unacademy plans to launch 30 crore-ESOP buyback offeredit
Live Mint Your Story Daily Hunt Deccan Herald Devdis Course India News Outlook The New Indian Express– Online
Edutech platform Unacademy on Thursday said it will undertake an ESOP buyback programme of 2530 crore in December this year. The buyback which will be held on December 10, 2020 and is open for current and former employees is the second such liquidity event at the fiveyearold company, a statement said.
Unacademy joins list of startups buying ESOPsedit
The Times of India – Online | Print ( Bangalore Delhi Mumbai Kolkata)
Edtech startup Unacademy has said that it will spend Rs 25-30 crore to buy back employee stock option plans (ESOPs) from up to 145 current and former employees after it achieved unicorn status last month.
Unacademy announces second ESOP buybackedit
The Hindu Business Line – Print (Delhi Mumbai Kolkata Chennai Bangalore Hyderabad)
Making the announcement in an internal note, Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and CEO of Unacademy, thanked employees for playing a crucial role in the company’s growth. Last month, the start-up raised $150 million in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, taking its valuation to $1.45 billion.
Unacademy announces ESOP buyback worth Rs 2530 Credit
Entrackr – Online
Unacademy India’s second edtech unicorn Unacademy has announced an ESOP buyback plan in which all vested ESOP till December 10 will be counted for the current and existing employees. The ESOP buyback will be in the range of Rs 2530 crore.
To code or not to codeedit
The New Indian Express – Online
The debate on whether six-year-old children should learn coding or not has drawn sharp reactions from parents and educators alike in the past few days. The courses being offered by Byju’s WhiteHat Jr for children between 6-14 years have left social media users asking if these will put extra pressure on children in an already competitive world.
There is no real playbook for successedit
Khaleej Times – Online
Byju Raveendrans tale has all the markers of everyone’s favourite ragstoriches story: humble beginnings, a touch of serendipity, and superlative success. Educated at a small village school in Kerala, it was during his work as an engineer that Byju decided to sit for the CAT exam.
Super Apps BYJU’S & Unacademy Emerge Biggest Acquirers In Indian Edtechedit
Inc 42 – Online
BYJUS, which is the worlds highest-valued edtech company, is also the biggest acquirer in the Indian edtech sector with five acquisitions. Earlier this year, BYJUS acquired online coding platform WhiteHatJr for $300 Mn, the biggest acquisition deal in the Indian edtech sector till date.
Pepper Content raises $4.2M in Series a led by Lightspeed Indiaedit
Tech Story – Online
Angel investors who participated in the funding round were Utsav Somani from iSeed, Akhil Paul from Caparo Group, Dilip Khandelwal from SAP Labs, Gaurav Munjal from Unacademy, Balaji Srinivasan from ex-GP a16z, Beerud Sheth from Upwork and many more.
Internet Freedom Foundation Raises Alarm Over India’s Move For Backdoor Access To Encrypted Dataedit
Inc 42 – Online
Last year, bike-sharing startup Bounce and Bengaluru based edtech startup Vedantu reported vulnerabilities that resulted in user data being exposed. Besides incidents of data leaks, the Pegasus spyware controversy has also been a major point of contention.
India’s Razorpay Received $100m Funding: Becomes Unicornedit
Tech Story – Online
During these trying times of the COVID19 pandemic, while the dealings in India are slowed and many businesses are shut, Razorpay has been successful in acquiring the Unicorn status along with some other big names such as Unacademy and Pin Labs.
Indian Ecommerce Companies Dominate Airtime For Ads During IPL 2020edit
Inc 42 – Online
And five of the top 10 categories in terms of advertising volume were from the ecommerce sector. Interestingly, Chinese phonemaker Oppo, which not long ago was the title sponsor for Indian cricket before it was replaced by Indian edtech platform BYJUS, became the top advertiser in the first 22 days of the leagues ongoing 13th edition.
India to have 100 unicorns by 2025 despite covid impactedit
Livemint – Online
Four Indian startups Nykaa, Unacademy, Postman and Razorpay emerged as unicorns while the pandemic was at its peak. India is on track to having at least eight new unicorns in 2020, on a par with the 2019 numbers, taking the total number of Indian unicorns to 33.
IIFL Wealth and Hurun India Rich List 2020: Here Are India’s Self-Made Entrepreneurs Under 40edit
News 18 – Online
As reported by Business Today, Bengaluru is the most preferred city for Business HQ with 9 individuals in the list, while Gurugram/New Delhi is the 2nd most preferred city with 2 individuals each.
How BYJUS Controlled Its Expenditure To Emerge As Edtech Leadersedit
Inc 42 – Online
BYJUS increased its revenue by $2.9 Mn over FY18 and FY19 and also reduced its expenses by $4.1 Mn. This analysis is based on the financial data of top 38 edtech startups in India. BYJU’S had raised $500 Mn in a funding round led by US-based private equity investor Silver Lake. The round valued BYJUS at $10.8 Bn
Gaurav Munjal-led Unacademy to buy back ESOPs worth Rs 30 croreedit
Tech Circle – Online
About a year after new unicorn Unacademy first bought back its employee vested stock options in the company, the Sorting Hat Technologies-owned entity on Thursday announced its plans to launch a second buyback on December 10. The size of the planned buyback pool is likely to be around Rs 2530 crore, depending on the number of ESOPs liquidated by employees, the edtech firm said in a statement.
Edtech unicorn Unacademy announces ESOP buyback for current, past employeesedit
Business Standard – Online
The Bengaluru-based startup was founded by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, and Hemesh Singh in 2015, initially on YouTube in 2010. Last month, it became a unicorn after raising $150 million in a round led by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank valuing it at $1.45 billion, a threefold jump in just six months. This also made the firm the second unicorn in the country’s edtech space after Byju’s.
Edtech finally puts India on the global education investment mapedit
India Education Diary – Online
The recent findings by L.E.K. Consulting’s Global Education Practice explore the surge in multibillion-dollar edtech companies within India, including BYJUs, Vedantu and Unacademy. The recent uptick that the Indian edtech space has witnessed is a long-term answer to various systemic issues prevalent in the country’s education system.
BYJU’S Curbs Expenses To Win Edtech’s Unit Economics Battle In FY2019edit
Inc 42 – Online
As per Inc42 Plus report The Future Of Edtech In India Decoding The $10 Bn Market Opportunity Report 2020, the country’s first edtech unicorn, BYJUS has emerged as the most frugal edtech startup in FY19 as it expanded its revenue by $123 Mn over FY18 to FY19 whereas the expense grew by $116 Mn.
5 Indian Billionaires Who Started Out With Nothing & Showed The World How To Ace Entrepreneurshipedit
MensXP – Online
Byju Raveendran Twitter/Shubham Raj At just 39, Byju has been declared one of India’s youngest billionaires by Forbes this year. The founder of the online learning app BYJUs may have been in the news lately for bagging massive funding’s to expand the company, but his life journey hadn’t been so high soaring since the beginning.
Industry
Quizzy and Mogi Joins Together to Provide Edtech Solution for Schoolsedit
India Education Diary – Online
Quizzy has joined hands with cutting video tech venture Mogi to launch the first of its kind edtech solution for schools with extensive library of educational content. This white label platform will replicate the complete schooling experience for students with features such as Live Streaming for classes, Pre-loaded Conceptual videos for learning at own pace, video records of live classes, forums for doubt resolution, Multiple Choice questions, Quiz with timers, assignments & many more. The students will be able to learn through educational on-demand videos and live streaming.
Online Education: A Way Forward Into The Future Or Notedit
Business World – Online
E-learning, as the name suggests, depends on the accessibility and openness of technology, yet practically no accessibility of such nature is a huge task to work on before turning to the online industry. One of the many aspects of COVID19 is its impact on India’s education system and industry in general. From unprepared teachers to online education to new education policy, it was all too much to soak in.
Daily Crunch: Stripe acquires Nigerias Paystackedit
Tech Crunch – Online
Brighteye Ventures Alex Latsis talks European edtech funding in 2020 European edtech firm Brighteye Ventures recently announced the $54 million first close of its second fund. Tesla’s decision to scrap its PR department could create a PR nightmare. The move effectively makes founder Elon Musk the company’s lone voice.
Competitive Exams are No Problem with BasicFirst’s Advanced E-learning Programedit
News 18 – Online
When it comes to getting an education, there are several things to consider. Besides understanding what your children might want to do, you also have to figure out how best to help them achieve their goals. Sometimes this can mean prepping early on to make sure they build focus and commitment and dont struggle under the pressure of learning later on
Brighteye Ventures Alex Latsis talks European edtech funding in 2020edit
Tech Crunch – Online
Brighteye Ventures, the European edtech venture capital firm, recently announced the $54 million first close of its second fund, bringing total assets under management above $112 million. Out of the new fund, the 2017founded VC will invest in 1520 companies over the next three years at the seed and Series A stage, writing checks up to $5 million.
STARTUP DIGEST: Top startup stories of the dayedit
CNBC TV18 – Online
Unacademy to buy back shares worth Rs 2530 crore Edtech startup Unacademy to buy back shares from current and former employees worth Rs 2530 crore, the latest in a series of quickly maturing companies which are giving employees some liquidity and rewarding their loyalty.