Unacademy Acquires PrepLadder To Strengthen Market Dominance The Bengaluru-based startup acquired PrepLadder for $50 million in a cash-and-stock deal

By Debarghya Sil

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Indian online learning platform Unacademy announced that it has acquired Chandigarh-based startup PrepLadder for $50 million in a cash-and-stock deal.

Founded in 2016, PrepLadder specializes in courses aimed at medical aspirants in the country. Unacademy through this acquisition seeks to bolster its presence in medical entrance examination categories such as NEET PG and Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE).

Facebook-backed Unacademy in the past three months has recorded a 100 per cent increase in its paid subscriber base. The company witnessed a 100 per cent steep growth in the daily average watch time across platforms.

Commenting on the acquisition, Gaurav Munjal, chief executive officer and co-founder, Unacademy, said, "As we strengthen our position as a market leader in the test prep market, bringing PrepLadder on board will play a strategic role for Unacademy in the medical entrance examinations category."

In 2018, Unacademy acquired WiFiStudy, an online learning platform on YouTube for an undisclosed amount and said that both were cash-and-stock deals.

Earlier this year, the Bengaluru-based firm bagged $110 million from Facebook and General Atlantic and others, and later went on to acquire Kreatryx and CodeChef as part of its inorganic growth strategy.

Unacademy, which started as a YouTube channel in 2010, now has more than 10,000 registered educators and over 30 million learners.

The development came at a time when Unacademy competitor Byju's is in talks to acquire Doubtnut, another ed-tech startup, to strengthen its dominance, according to a Tech Crunch report. Byju's has recently raised an undisclosed amount from Mary Meeker's equity fund bond.

Debarghya Sil

Entrepreneur Staff

Former Correspondent

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