Unacademy acquires two years old PrepLadder for $50 Mn

Unacademy has acquired medical entrance focused startup PrepLadder in $50 million. The transaction will strengthen the Bengaluru-based company’s stakes in medical preparation examinations space.

Unacademy’s founder Gaurav Munjal has confirmed the acquisition of PrepLadder in a tweet. While Munjal hasn't disclosed the size of the deal, A TechCrunch report says the acquisition was done for $50 million.

This is the third acquisition by Unacademy in four months. In March, it bought Kreatryx, an online preparation platform for GATE and the Engineering Services Exam (ESE). Last month, it acquired CodeChef, an online platform for algorithms and coding for an undisclosed amount.

PrepLadder has an active subscriber base of 86,000 and claims 500% revenue growth in the past year with an average monthly watch time of 2254 minutes. PrepLadder is the two years old and purely bootstrapped venture. Its acquisition marks one of the fastest exits in edtech segments.

The acquisition of PrepLadder has come at a time when edtech startups have been experiencing a spurt of usage due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Investors are also showing great confidence in the edtech segment. Unacademy, Byju’s, Vedantu along with other players had raised back to back rounds in 2020.

Apart from PrepLadder, Unacademy is also in talks to acquire another edtech startup Mastree. According to a report by The Morning Context, the deal may happen soon.

A recent report by Venture Intelligence revealed that edtech startups have gathered $795 million capital in the first half of 2020, a 7X jump as compared to the previous year. 

Byju’s had recently turned decacorn after raising an undisclosed amount from BOND Capital. To spruce up its play in the supplementary education segment, the company has been in advanced conversation to acquire doubt clearing app DoubtNut for over $100 million. 

Entrackr had exclusively reported about Byju’s-DoubtNut deal. According to an ET report, Byju’s is also in talks with WhiteHat Jr to acquire it in a $300 million deal.