Exclusive: Byju’s in talks to acquire campus recruitment platform Superset

Edtech company Byju’s is in talks to acquire campus recruitment platform Superset, according to two sources aware of the transaction. Byju’s has already acquired nine startups this year and is also in the process of taking over Tiger global-backed Hello English.

Bengaluru-based Superset is a platform that streamlines the campus placements and hiring process for colleges, students and companies. The startup provides end-to-end solutions in edtech automation and HR-tech by leveraging machine learning, Elasticsearch and other cloud-based technologies.  

“Byju’s is in late-stage conversation to acquire Superset and both companies have been finalising the terms,” said one of the sources requesting anonymity. “Besides the team, both founders of Superset will join Byju’s”.

According to sources, the deal size is between $20-25 million. 

Backed by Blume Ventures, Superset has raised around $1.48 million since its inception in early 2018. The company offers SaaS products to over 375 colleges including BITS Pilani, SRM University,  IIM Calcutta, IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Ropar, as per the company’s website. 

The startup makes revenue from the annual subscription fee collected from colleges which varies and depends on the number of students registered on the platform. 

“If the acquisition gets through, it will mark the entry of Byju’s in the recruitment space where its rival Unacademy has a presence via Relevel,” said another source who also wished not to be named as talks are private.

Caveat: The terms of the deal may change

Queries sent to Byju’s and Superset on Wednesday did not elicit an immediate response. We’ll update the post as and when they respond.

While Superset is yet to file its annual financial statements for FY21, it recorded operating revenue of Rs 1.15 crore in FY20 as compared to Rs 46 lakh in the preceding fiscal. During FY20, the company registered Rs 1.55 crore as total expenses and Rs 40 lakh as loss.

Earlier this week, Entrackr had exclusively reported about the potential acquisition of Hello English by Byju’s. With Superset, Byju’s may close the ongoing calendar year with around a dozen acquisitions.

The most-valued edtech startup had already spent around $2.5 billion for acquisitions and has raised a larger debt round to acquire more startups in the coming months. Aakash Educational Services was the largest deal for Byju’s in which it spent around $1 billion. The company also shelled out around $600 million for Great Learning and $500 million for US-based Epic.

Byju’s is also eyeing a potential public listing next year. As per media reports, the company may file IPO papers in the US at a valuation of $40-50 billion by next year.