BookAdda acquires K12-focused books e-tailer KoolSkool

Bangalore-based Ishita Technologies Pvt Ltd, the company behind BookAdda, an online marketplace for books, has acquired rival KoolSkool from Delhigate Educomm Retail Solutions Pvt Ltd in a cash-and-stock deal.

"This acquisition is complementary to our strength and existing offerings," said Hemant Kohli, co-founder and CEO, BookAdda, told Techcircle.in. "While BookAdda is focused on the complete range of books with a catalogue of close to 15 million titles, our other product ACADzone focuses on the competitive exam segment. Now, with the snapping up of KoolSkool, which offers books and stationery items focusing on the K12 segment, we are positioned to offer the entire range of solutions to the learning population in India."

KoolSkool was founded in 2010 by Suhas Dutta and Vyom Khandelia. Dutta is a technology veteran with more than 22 years of working experience. An alumnus of Berkeley University, he held various roles at Gerson Lehrman Group, Accenture, netdecisions and NIIT, prior to starting the online venture. Khandelia is an IIM Calcutta alumnus, and is currently the director of Position2. In the past, he had held different positions at Afila, Neutron Systems, Ishoni Networks India, and Celstream.

Bookadda.com sells general books in various categories like fiction, non-fiction, mystery, self help, reference and biographies. It also offers books in management, computer, engineering and medical books catering to many university syllabi in India. The firm has partnered with leading online brands such as MeritNation, Edurite, Average2Excellent, Adormi, PracticeGuru, TCY Online, Infinitestudent, Eduwizards, and Oliveboard for the service. BookAdda is backed by former Infosys director Mohandas Pai and Growth Story's co-founder K Ganesh.

The company has recently introduced a Google preview feature, which allows users to scan and preview books before buying. This feature is available for around 5,000 titles on its platform.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)