Scaler, an ed-tech start-up, has bought AppliedRoots for $50 million intending to expand its suite of online courses. Founded in 2018, AppliedRoots is an ed-tech platform that provides certification programs and live classes in collaboration with industry experts.
The acquisition will enable Scaler to provide a comprehensive set of courses in the digital space and expand its reach to more customers.
Let’s look at the details of this acquisition.
Overview of Scaler
Scaler is a leading education technology startup founded in 2018 with an ambitious vision to make quality learning available and accessible to anyone around the globe. To achieve that aim, the company has developed various digital solutions, including artificial intelligence (AI) powered educational software and real-time microlearning practices, enabling learners to engage, interact and measure their progress over time.
In addition, Scaler is helping shape the future of technical talent in India by enabling students, professionals, and universities to mainstream technology skills through its prestigious Scaler Academy program. The pioneering program conducts specialized workshops and boot camps regularly at various participating campuses across the country.
Acquiring the business from AppliedRoots is the latest step in Scaler’s journey towards becoming a digital education powerhouse. The platform enables businesses, institutes and individuals alike to access extensive e-learning courseware for various topics across technology domains ranging from digital literacy, DevOps engineering & cloud computing upskilling. Aiming to emerge as one of India’s first edtech unicorns, Scaler hopes that this acquisition will provide it with access to lucrative industry fields such as content recommendations & product personalization, and an established customer base.
Overview of AppliedRoots
AppliedRoots is a technology start-up aiming to improve access to quality online education for users around the world. Founded in 2020, the company has quickly grown from its humble roots in Delhi, India, to become a global business.
AppliedRoots’ mission is to bridge the gap between traditional classrooms and modern technology and make sure that everyone has equal access to quality education on the internet. The company provides personalized learning modules, offering interactive lessons and underlining concepts by providing visuals instead of just reading texts. AppliedRoot’s technological capabilities also allow it to track user data, such as performance scores in real time–something that even some established universities do not yet possess.
The edtech firm has recently been acquired by Scaler for $50 million, signaling the valuation power of AppliedRoots technology and its strong potential for further expansion over the next few years. With Scaler’s support, AppliedRoots can now look forward to expand courses into international markets and solidifying its position as one of the fastest growing edtech firms globally.
Background
Education Technology (EdTech) firm Scaler has recently acquired AppliedRoots in a deal worth $50 million. The acquisition marks one of India’s largest deals in the EdTech sector.
Scaler is an online coding bootcamp and AppliedRoots is a platform for online learning and assessments. The acquisition is aimed to strengthen Scaler’s position in the EdTech industry and expand its offering of online courses.
History of Scaler
Scaler is a leading platform for equipping professionals with the skills and tools to succeed in technology. Founded by former Goldman Sachs engineers, Sudhir Tiwari and Shobhit Bhatnagar, Scaler was launched in 2016 to create a new ‘tech education model that merges traditional methods with the latest advancements in technology.
Since its inception, Scaler has rapidly grown to become one of India’s leading tech ed-tech companies and has acquired several major ed-tech companies including DataCamp, Pluralsight and AppliedRoots. Scaler also counts hundreds of leading corporations among its customers. The company’s flagship product, “Scaler Edge” offers more than 1,000 online courses in data science, AI/ML, product design and engineering best practices tailored to Fortune 500 companies such as Google and Microsoft.
The company has seen tremendous growth over the past year due to its shift away from siloed training material towards an integrated approach that utilises personalised learning paths for individuals looking to level up their skillset. With their latest acquisition of AppliedRoots for USD 50 million aiming to expand their online courses into corporate training solutions — Scaler is looking to take their commitment to help build technical professionals into 2021.
History of AppliedRoots
AppliedRoots, a leading edtech firm, was founded in New Delhi in 2010 with a mission to revolutionize education, making it available to everyone in the form of affordable yet cutting-edge online courses.
Since its inception, AppliedRoots’s course offerings have grown significantly and now include content on STEM and business skills such as programming & coding, system design & engineering, basic statistics & data science and more. Students from across the globe can access these courses and gain skills that help advance their careers.
The company also runs several outreach programmes for students and professionals like hackathons and workshops to foster collaborations between academia and industry. In 2017, AppliedRoots was awarded the “Societal Impact Award” by the Ministry of Human Resource Development for its outstanding contributions towards improving employability in India.
Today, AppliedRoots has become an international brand in more than 190 countries. Its content catalog includes over 100 courses across 8 different areas – from artificial intelligence to business analysis – taught by top industry experts. With over 10 million students who have completed its courses since inception, AppliedRoots has firmly established itself as one of the world’s most successful educational technology companies.
Scaler buys edtech firm AppliedRoots for $50mn aiming to expand online courses
Scaler, a leading edtech firm, recently acquired AppliedRoots, a software platform that offers online courses and certifications, for $50 million.
The acquisition expanded Scaler’s online course offerings and extended its reach to new markets. This move will also help Scaler build upon its current programming, data science and design course offerings.
We will dive into the details of the acquisition in the coming sections.
Terms of the acquisition
The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but it is known that AppliedRoots will become part of Scaler. Scaler is reportedly investing $50 million into the edtech firm, with additional investments to be made through joint market initiatives and international expansion. This ambitious move is designed to position Scaler as a significant player in the online learning space, with the comprehensive global reach and scalability afforded by AppliedRoots technology platform.
The acquisition set several new milestones for edtech acquisitions in India, being one of the largest ever transactions in this space and one of only a handful of such deals across Asia Pacific (APAC). After successfully raising over $17 million earlier this year, it was expected that Scaler would make a big play in the edtech sector; however, their acquisition surpasses all expectations.
Through their combination with AppliedRoots technology, Scaler aims to provide users with an expansive library of self-paced digital lessons and virtual classrooms alongside their existing suite of on-demand learning tools. This collaboration should further accelerate innovation in internet-enabled education solutions while preparing learners for success in competitive spaces.
Motivation behind the acquisition
Scaler, an edtech firm focused on providing coding skills, has recently announced the acquisition of AppliedRoots, an online learning platform offering multimedia tools for virtual classes. This latest acquisition has marked the first major move for Scaler since receiving significant funding earlier this year.
The primary motivation behind this acquisition is to provide Scaler with a platform to expand its existing course offerings. AppliedRoots provides a user-friendly platform specifically designed for educational purposes, including audio and video tools that facilitate synchronous learning and interactive experiences. Additionally, AppliedRoots offers cloud-based technology which allows scalable access to its services regardless of local infrastructure or internet speed. This technology will allow Scaler to offer courses accessible from anywhere worldwide while maintaining quality standards and upholding scalability goals.
AppliedRoot’s founders are also expected to join Scaler’s team so that new courses can be rolled out quickly with an understanding of their full potential and how they could be further streamlined using artificial intelligence assets developed by Scaler before the acquisition. With these two technologies working in tandem, it is expected that Scaler will launch unique online teaching and learning experiences on its platform soon with more available later as the technologies progress alongside one another.
Impact
The acquisition of AppliedRoots by Scaler is an important milestone for edtech as it signals a new era in online courses. This move is expected to help Scaler expand its presence in the edtech market and offer more digital learning options to students. It could also open up new opportunities for universities, businesses and other educational institutions.
Let’s take a look at the potential impact of this acquisition.
Impact on Scaler
The acquisition of AppliedRoots by Scaler is a strategic move to expand its educational offerings in the edtech space. Besides providing access to AppliedRoot’s educational content, Scaler will also benefit from the company’s technology, including advanced course analytics and powerful personalized learning tools. This means that Scaler’s students will get an even more tailored learning experience with greater student insights and data-driven decision making.
Acquiring AppliedRoots gives Scaler a significant foothold in the edtech space with an enhanced product offering for its students. With deeper insights into user engagement and performance data, Scaler can further customise courses and deliver a higher quality learning experience to its users. The increased data and analytics capabilities also allow Scaler to assess learner outcomes more accurately as they advance through their individual courses, enabling them to provide better guidance on their journey to knowledge mastery.
This strategic move by Scaler signals its commitment to become one of the largest online education providers globally. It is expected that this move will positively impact its business operations, leading to further growth and expansion over time.
Impact on AppliedRoots
The acquisition of tech-enabled learning platform AppliedRoots by Scaler marks a significant milestone in the growth journey of the organization. The acquisition is expected to help the company expand its online course offerings and provide students access to a broader range of courses and educational resources.
AppliedRoots was founded by two IIT Kharagpur alumni, Shashank Jain and Shantanu Sebastian. They envisioned a world where anyone could access quality education regardless of geographical location or financial resources. With support from investors like Nexus Venture Partners, AppliedRoots has provided personalized guidance to learners across various academic and employment areas such as Programming, Test Prep, Design, Data Science, Management Skills Development and more.
The acquisition is expected to significantly expand the reach of content offered on both platforms. Allowing users to access high-quality video content offered on either platform regardless of their individual learning needs or existing setup will help foster expanded learning opportunities. Furthermore, by partnering with Scaler Academy to offer students exclusive industry mentorship programs and apprenticeships with some of India’s top tech companies, AppliedRoots may be able to provide students greater job mobility within the rapidly growing tech sector in India. The additional funds accessed by Scaler are also expected to enable further investment into technology leading towards creation and production of even more course materials for learners across the globe.
Conclusion
The merger of Scaler and AppliedRoots will likely benefit both companies as they work towards providing high-quality online content for learners. As the online education industry continues to grow, this acquisition could provide a strong foundation that enables both companies to achieve new heights of success.
With both entities’ combined resources and expertise, Scaler and AppliedRoots are well-positioned to provide students with amazing learning opportunities. The expanded course offering is expected to enhance the value proposition for students and make it easier to access sought-after training and development courses.
