Azent Overseas Education Ltd, an online education startup founded by IT firm Hexaware Technologies Ltd founder Atul Nishar, Wednesday said it has acquired Bengaluru-based AdmissionTable.com, an artificial intelligence (AI) driven online platform for overseas university selection and admission counselling.
The deal is part of Azent’s larger plan to invest ₹250 crore in technological capabilities, services, acquisitions and infrastructure. The company did not disclose the deal value.
“We have set aside about ₹250 crore for investing in this venture over the next three years. We expect about half of that, about ₹125 crore, to go towards acquisitions, and the remaining would be invested in building physical infrastructure, improving our technology and funding our working capital requirements. As we actively look for more opportunities, we plan to acquire three companies in the education counselling space in the next three years,” said Nishar, founder of Azent Overseas Education.
Nishar’s education advisory firm has four centres in Mumbai, Thane, Hyderabad and Chennai, along with an online counselling centre in Bengaluru. It has close to 100 employees and has, so far, helped over 250 students go for studies abroad. “We aim to send 1,000 students abroad by this September, and will grow in multiples of that from there,” said Nishar.
“The acquisition of AdmissionTable.com would help us extend our reach beyond the tier-1 cities and establish a pan India presence. Further, we look to build 3-5 centres every year, which means we will have 15 offline centres by the end of three years. We also plan to expand our business to Gujarat and open another online centre in Mumbai,” he added.
Founded by Manish Katyan and Pooja Krishna, AdmissionTable.com is an online platform that uses AI, chatbots and machine learning tools combined with human counsellors to assist students with university shortlisting, admission counselling, admission and tutoring for various entrance examinations.
“In India, overseas education counselling is a fragmented market and we want to be able to consolidate that by acquiring a significant market share. Alongside, we will enhance our quality of services and continue adding more value for students and families,” said Nishar.
Source: Mint