Edtech start-up upGrad acquires corporate training solutions firm Centum

Company led by entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala is on an acquisition spree and last month bought Exampur, a test-prep provider for state jobs

Education technology start-up upGrad said on Thursday it has acquired corporate training solutions firm Centum Learning (Centum) in a share-swap deal.

Entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala-led upGrad didn’t reveal the value of the transaction for Centum, which is expected to clock revenue of Rs 170 crore ($ 21 million) in Financial Year 2022-23 (FY23).

Centum, which is headquartered in Delhi and was formed in 2007, trains corporate employees and it also offers vocational and educational learning to schools and college students.

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“Enterprise workforce upskilling is a supercritical need; however, the sector remains highly fragmented,” said a joint statement by Mayank Kumar, co-founder and manager, and Gaurav Kumar, president, corporate development, of upGrad. “upGrad has always seen enterprise upskilling as a strategic growth driver and we are making some nonlinear movements to reinvent B2B learning in India.”

Centum, using its proprietary methodology, trains entry-level professionals and mid-level leaders. The company said it has more than 3000 specialists and it has trained more than 2 million people.

“We have put in years of hard work building a bespoke training and content portfolio that makes new-age learning more immersive and outcome-oriented for both corporates and individuals,” said Sanjay Bahl, managing director and chief executive officer of Centum Learning.

With the Centum transaction, Bharti Enterprises Limited and its affiliates (together BEL) will join upGrad’s cap table. upGrad, which competes with Simplilearn, Unacademy, Byju’s and Amazon Academy, is in negotiations to acquire companies in the US and Southeast Asia for expansion. The firm is making acquisitions after doubling its valuation to $2.25 billion and raising $225 million in funding from James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems LLC, the family offices of steel magnate Lakshmi, and Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, according to the sources. They said the others supporting upGrad include USA's Educational Testing Service and existing investor Temasek Holdings Pte.

Last month, upGrad acquired Exampur, one of India’s largest test-prep providers for government jobs. The deal was valued at about Rs 125 crore, according to the sources.