Upgrade Education, an online higher education company, is looking for major acquisitions in higher online education in Africa, Mexico and the US to become a global company based out of India, its founders said.
The company is in talks with investors for these major international merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities, he added.
“just it [fund raising exercise] continues,” said co-founder and president Ronnie Screwvala. “We will be raising funds for the next round of M&A deals, mostly international.
Elaborating, Co-Founder and MD Mayank Kumar said, “In Africa. we are looking [to acquire] The largest online higher education company and one of the top two such players in Mexico.”
“In the US, we are looking for the largest coding platform, and plan to grow in that market through a partnership model with universities,” he said.
In India, Upgrade has acquired five companies in the past and this time the acquisition will take place in international markets.
With job seekers finding their business model, mostly working professionals, paying ₹2-3 lakhs for an online course with the intention of specializing and upgrading to get a higher salary package, the company will start its business in six months. It is aiming to double the annual revenue run rate.
“At the end of September, our annual revenue run rate was $210 million, which is projected to increase to $500 million from $450 million in March 2022. Recent acquisitions and international operations are helping,” Mr. Screwvala said.
Apart from India, Upgrade had operations in eight foreign countries where the company would further expand its base, he added.
In the past six months, the company had raised $185 million from Temasek, IFC and IIFL, valued at $1.2 billion.
Currently, 20% of the company’s revenue comes from international operations, which are projected to grow by 50% in two years, he said.
Upgrade, which is focusing on lifelong education of the people, said that its data science, machine learning, online MBA, technology, digital marketing and law courses are in high demand.