GetMyUni eyes online certification space with Avagmah acquisition

Edtech startup GetMyUni Education Services has acquired Avagmah, a platform that offers online degree programmes and skill development courses, from its parent Aeon Learning.

The company declined to disclose the financial terms of the all-cash deal.

The acquisition will help Times Internet-backed GetMyUni enter the online certification and degree-granting space.

"This acquisition allows us to complete the value chain for our users, by directly impacting the content delivery part of the business too,” Upneet Grover, CEO and founder of GetMyUni, said in a statement.

Avagmah is a full-stack OPM (online program manager) and enables universities to fully outsource their online programmes. It offers higher-education courses and short-term skill development courses from top universities, institutions and distance education providers.

Its founder Karthik KS had previously co-founded 24x7 Learning, an e-learning consulting, technology and implementation company. In the past, Karthik has worked at companies such as PCL, HCL, HP and Microland.

In November 2017, Bengaluru headquartered Avagmah merged with online skill development course provider Acadgild, and both the entities were rolled up into parent firm Aeon Learning. 

Avagmah and Acadgild were backed by GrowthStory, a venture building platform launched by serial entrepreneurs K Ganesh and Meena Ganesh. Post the merger, Acadgild co-founder Vikalp Jain joined Aeon Learning as founder and president.

Acadgild is not part of the deal and neither of the Aeon Learning founders will join GetMyUni, Grover confirmed to TechCircle.

In its last announced funding round, Avagmah raised $3.2 million in a Series B round from MEMG Family Office, a fund set up by Manipal Education and Medical Group chairman Ranjan Pai. 

It has previously raised capital from Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, Hexaware founder Atul Nishar, Zodius Capital, and Aptech Computer Education besides Singapore based Lionrock Capital.

Avagmah has partnered with universities and colleges such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, Pondicherry University, Bharathidasan University, Alagappa University, and NIT Kurukshetra.

Founded in 2015, Bengaluru based GetMyUni is an online platform that connects students with universities. It offers student services such as access to college information, data points, student ratings, reviews, forums and a student connect platform. To the universities, it offers student enrolments, marketing and communications solutions. 

In May this year, the company acquired IELTS Material, a London-based online International English Language Testing System (IELTS) preparation platform in an all-cash deal.  

GetMyUni also owns and operates TheCollegeMonk, a Newark, Delaware-based university financing exploration platform.

“This acquisition allows us to pursue our vision to make higher education accessible to everyone in India, irrespective of their financial status or access to traditional offline setup, wherein private education is too expensive and public, very average in outcomes," Upneet Grover, CEO and Founder of Getmyuni said.

The company claims to have an existing distribution of 40 million annual user base and over 300 university partners, which it will leverage to enter the OPM space.