Ronnie Screwvala’s UpGrad acquires online job skilling platform Acadview

Media entrepreneur and investor Ronnie Screwvala's ed-tech startup UpGrad Education Pvt. Ltd has acquired Acadview Software Pvt. Ltd, an online job skilling platform for undergraduates.

The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition will help UpGrad, which targets working professionals, foray into offering online courses for the college-going population.

Acadview, founded three years ago by Himanshu Batra and Varun Jain, helps fresh graduates upskill themselves with in-demand technologies through live online courses and industry projects. It also offers infotech professionals an option to make an extra living by teaching these courses and mentoring students.

“Education market in India is theory-based, making it challenging for students to be prepared for jobs. Equipping students with engaging content, personalised coaching, hands-on experience with real world projects and guidance from subject-matter experts in the industry can bring a step change in the quality of workforce available to employers,” said Himanshu Batra, founder and chief executive of Acadview.

Acadview, a Gurugram-headquartered startup, claims to have partnered over 80 universities and colleges in north India and to have trained more than 3,000 students in the last year alone.

UpGrad, started in January 2015, targets professionals with online courses in entrepreneurship, digital marketing, data analytics and product management. Apart from Screwvala, UpGrad's co-founders are Mayank Kumar, Ravijot Chugh and Prabhav Phalgun.

UpGrad had in October 2016 acqui-hired Pyoopil Education Technologies Pvt. Ltd, marking its entry into the corporate training space.

The company said, in January this year, that it plans to raise around $40 million (Rs 266 crore) in its first round of external funding.

The company has thus far been internally funded by Screwvala's proprietary arm Unilazer Ventures, which he set up in 2012 after selling UTV to Disney. Unilazer has so far backed 30 startups, including Lenskart and Niki.Ai.

The founder group had committed to invest Rs 300 crore in UpGrad, with co-founder Kumar telling VCCircle last July that Rs 100 crore had been invested till that juncture.

The three-year company currently has tie-ups with institutes such as IIT-Bangalore, BITS-Pilani, IMT-Ghaziabad, MICA-Ahmedabad, and UK's Cambridge University.