Byju's buys Osmo for $120 mn as it looks to expand into new age demographic

Online tutoring platform Byju's on Thursday said it has acquired US-based learning platform Osmo for $120 million (Rs 850 crore).

"After the acquisition, Osmo will continue to scale as a standalone brand as Byju's taps the company's physical-to-digital technology and content to expand and enhance its current offering," the city-based company said in a statement.

The firm, however, did not disclose the nature of the acquisition.

The acquisition will help Byju's international plans to innovate, explore and set benchmarks for tech-enabled personalised learning solutions, the statement said.

Osmo is a playful learning system which aims to create healthy screen-time experience for children. 

"With the integration of Osmo, Byju's will also look to offer a unique, customised, engaging and fun learning solution for younger kids," the company said.
 

Osmo's Chief Executive Pramod Sharma, along with the core team will continue to remain with the company post acquisition.

"Our vision is to make learning fun and engaging across age groups and geographies," Byju's Chief Executive Byju Raveendran said in the statement.

"With this acquisition, we are expanding into a new age demographic of younger kids (age group three-eight)," he added. 
 

The company said it is on target to triple its revenue to Rs 1,400 crore in 2019. 

"Byju's has aggressive plans for international market expansion and will continue to make big investments in technology that will help personalise learning for students," the firm added.

In December 2018, the company raised $540 million (Rs 3,865.5 crore) venture funds from Naspers and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).
 

Founded in 2011 in Bengaluru, Byju's has been running its 'Byju's Learning App' since 2015 and claims to have over 30 million students learning from the app with two million annual paid subscriptions. 

The tech firm offers learning programmes for students in Classes 4-12 and competitive examinations like Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and Common Admission Test (CAT) among others.