upGrad acquires Harappa Education

Higher education platform upGrad has acquired online learning institution Harappa Education for Rs 300 crore (about $38 million).

upGrad closed the transaction with present Harappa shareholders – Bodhi Tree Systems (a newly-formed platform between James Murdoch and Uday Shankar) and Co-Founders Pramath Raj Sinha and Shreyasi Singh.

Harappa Education is likely to clock Rs 75 crore in revenue this year.

“A combination of upskilling courses along with these critical skills that Harappa has to offer would set us apart. We see strong demand from our clients and with Harappa coming in, we believe we’ll be able to grow exponentially within the segment as we cross-leverage the synergies,” said Ronnie Screwvala and Mayank Kumar, Co-founders of upGrad.

Co-founded by Sinha, also the Founding Dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB), Harappa Education offers self-paced courses to address the spiralling problem of poor employability, inadequate leadership, and an ill-equipped workforce.

Harappa has an active clientele of 100 mid and large-sized organisations.

Harappa was the first investment for Bodhi Tree Systems (via Lupa Systems) in India in which they acquired a majority stake in January 2020. The joint venture also invested $600 million in Kota-based Allen Career Institute.

“As a combined force, Harappa and upGrad will anchor our purpose and conviction to create a truly wholesome learning ecosystem for lifelong learners in India and abroad, with our time-tested pedagogy, flagship programs, and rich partnerships to guarantee unmatched outcomes for our learners and clients,” said Sinha and Singh, Founders of Harappa.

upGrad has a learner base of over 3 million across over 100 countries and more than 300 University partners, along with an enterprise business with a client base of 1000 companies worldwide. In recent weeks, upGrad has been on an acquisition spree. upGrad Rekrut, a 100 per cent subsidiary of online higher education platform major upGrad,  acquired recruitment and staffing firm Wolves India, for an undisclosed sum.