Exclusive: Blume ventures backed edtech startup PaGalGuy looks for strategic buyout

Education network cum test prep platform PaGalGuy is reportedly looking for buyers. According to the three sources aware of the development, the Mumbai-based company has been looking for a buyout. Founded in 2003, the company is one of the oldest education focused networks in the country.

The aforementioned sources requested anonymity. “Bengaluru-based fund syndication and M&A advisory platform Merisis is advising PaGalGuy and exploring strategic buyout for the company in the market,” said two sources.

PaGalGuy began as a forum for students to discuss relevant topics, problems and share information, later it became the de facto portal for MBA aspirants. With over a million registered user base, the startup claims to have over 22 million page views on a monthly basis.

On contacting, Allwin Agnel, Founder, PaGalGuy has refuted that the company is not up for sale. “We are looking for strategic investments, not buyouts,” he added.

To tap burgeoning test prep segment, PaGalGuy had launched - Prepathon, a learning, and test seeking app in 2015. A year later, Blume Ventures had invested an undisclosed amount of pre-Series A round in Prepathon.

Notably, the company claims to be profitable since early 2006. However, RoC filings reveal that PaGalGuy has a revenue of Rs 5.31 Cr with an overall loss of Rs 2.52 crore in FY17. It’s yet to file revenue and other figures for the recently concluded fiscal year.

Currently, it covers discussion and preparatory tests around courses such as MBA, engineering, banking, UPSC and a few others. As of now, PaGalGuy has been banking on an advertisement-driven model.

With the growing dominance of Facebook, advertisement-driven content plays have been facing significant heat. Many large content platforms without the backup of additional revenue channels are fighting for survival.