Unacademy buys test prep platform NeoStencil to expand small-town presence

Founded in 2014, NeoStencil has tie-ups with over 100 institutions, offers 500-plus courses to nearly 1,100,000 students

Betting on inorganic growth, Facebook-backed edtech unicorn Unacademy has acquired test preparation platform NeoStencil to increase its footprint in Tier II and III cities. In 2020, Unacademy has acquired Kreatryx, and PrepLadder, besides investing in Mastree, and taking over the custodianship of CodeChef.

Founded by Kush Beejal and Love Beejal in 2014, NeoStencil has tie-ups with over 100 institutions and offers 500 plus courses to nearly 1,100,000 students. It works on an asset-light and scalable model which leverages technology to solve the problem of accessibility for students and teachers. The live-learning platform has helped over 100 coaching institutes go live, and over 15,000 paid students enter classrooms from their homes. 

“We’re always looking for synergies in the form of great companies and teams, which are creating an impact by making educational products affordable and accessible. It is great to have NeoStencil as a part of the Unacademy Group,” said Gaurav Munjal, Co-Founder and CEO, Unacademy Group. 

 

Post the acquisition, Kush Beejal will continue to run NeoStencil while also finding synergies on how the two platforms can work together.

“Our resolve is to ensure that every aspirant has access to the best resources regardless of whether they live in a metropolitan city. Joining the Unacademy Group enables us to realise this vision by being a part of a larger movement,” said Kush Beejal, Founder and CEO, NeoStencil. 

Unacademy had last month raised a fresh undisclosed investment from Tiger Global Management and US-based Dragoneer Investment Group, which valued the company at $2 billion. The Bengaluru-based startup is one of India’s largest learning platforms with 47,000 educators, teaching in over 14 Indian languages. Over 150,000 live classes are conducted on the platform each month and the collective watch time across platforms is over two billion minutes per month, claims the company.