Byju's will be acquiring Aakash Educational Services, a chain of coaching centres with online and offline offerings, the edtech startup announced on Monday. Byju's will be acquiring Aakash Educational Services, a chain of coaching centres with online and offline offerings, the edtech startup announced on Monday. Byju's, which is valued at over $13 billion, will hold a majority stake in the company, while Aakash's founders and investment group Blackstone will become shareholders in Byju's. While the company wasn't forthcoming with the financials of the deal, TechCrunch reported that Byju's paid close to $1 billion in cash and equity for the acquisition. The Economic Times speculated the merger to have cost the company around $700 million in cash and stock. The "strategic merger" would help combine Aakash's expertise in test-prep with Byju's content and tech capabilities. "After the integration, Byju's will make further investments to accelerate Aakash's growth," an official release said. Aakash Chaudhry, managing director of Aakash Educational Services, said that notwithstanding the merger, Aakash will continue to operate as a separate entity. "Together with BYJU’S, we will work towards building an omni-channel learning offering that will accelerate test-prep experience to the next level," he said. Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO of Byju's, said, "The future of learning is hybrid and this union will bring together the best of offline and online learning, as we combine our expertise to create impactful experiences for students." Raveendran told ET that Aakash would serve as the front-end of all of Byju's test prep…
