Talks with Byju's on, but could take several weeks: Aakash Educational MD

Talks for a partnership with Indian unicorn Byju's reflect several prescient moves by this second-generation promoter

Circa 1988. Aakash Institute, a tiny private coaching outfit is launched out of a room in Ganesh Nagar, West Delhi. Cut to 2019. Private equity firm Blackstone picks up 37.5 per cent stake in the same company, valuing it at around $500 million. Today, as Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL), the well-known test preparatory services institution, holds talks for building a strong partnership with Bengaluru-based unicorn Byju’s, at an estimated $1 billion, this could be one of the world’s biggest edtech deals. 

If the man at the helm, Aakash Chaudhry (his father J C Chaudhry founded and named the original