The ever growing rivalry between Byju’s and Unacademy

India’s top two edtech companies aim to be $100 billion businesses. Their quest for size has sparked an acquisition spree that’s seen them come dangerously close to treading on each other’s toes. Where’s this race headed?

Pradip K. Saha

Delhi

12 April 2021

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Byju Raveendran is a busy man. When not raising capital, which he seems to have done with alarming regularity over the last 15 months, he is busy meeting potential investors. Or entrepreneurs whose startups could be his next acquisition target. Many of these meetings end up in the business news section of mainstream media. A lot more fail to leave the gossip corridors of Bengaluru and become part of startup folklore. Then there are some meetings few know of and even fewer talk about.

A series of such meetings were held around this time last year, just before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a lockdown, with cross-town rival Unacademy. Details of these meetings are sketchy and vary depending on who you talk to, but this much is certain. Byju Raveendran met Unacademy’s founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal several times last year. During these meetings, according to two people privy to the details, Raveendran made an offer to Munjal for a potential collaboration/buyout. But after some back

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