Unacademy brings programming platform CodeChef under its umbrella

Sorting Hat Technologies owned test preparation platform Unacademy has acquired CodeChef, a non-profit educational arm of the Bhavin Turakhia-led Directi group. 

Launched in 2009 by Directi, CodeChef provides a platform for programmers to enhance their skills. 

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. CodeChef will now be under the umbrella of Unacademy. 

Codechef will be a part of Unacademy Group moving forth. Codechef is one of the best platforms in the world for programmers and their vision is aligned to what we do here at Unacademy Group.

— Gaurav Munjal (@gauravmunjal) June 18, 2020

The acquisition is expected to help the non-profit access “greater resources, teams, technology, platforms and capital,” CodeChef’s business unit head Anup Kalbalia said in a blog post.

“All our existing programmes, contests, etc. will continue to remain exactly as they are, and will only grow better in our new home… Unacademy will also be pouring in time, effort and resources to ensure that the best courses to learn programming at all levels are available to everyone,” Kalbalia added.

Unacademy co-founder Gaurav Munjal was a part of CodeChef team in 2013 before moving on to his other projects. Turakhia has been a board member and shareholder at Unacademy since 2017.

Turakhia will continue to guide CodeChef jointly with Munjal, according to a video announcement of the deal, which featured Kalbalia, Turakhia and Munjal.

Mumbai-based Directi comprises a group of technology businesses that are owned, operated or invested in by Bhavin Turakhia and Divyank Turakhia. The group’s brand is used by multiple business units that are run independently by their respective management teams.

Employing over 1,600 workers across eight offices, other Directi portfolio companies include neo-banking business Zeta, web-hosting business Radix, international calling app Ringo, and communication platform Flock.

It also comprised BigRock, ResellerClub, LogicBoxes and WebHosting.info which were sold to the Endurance International Group in a $160 million transaction in 2014.