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BYJU’S acquires ed-tech start-up WhiteHat Jr
KOLKATA: BYJU’S, the leading ed-tech company, has announced that it has acquired Mumbai based ed-tech start-up, WhiteHat Jr.
This partnership brings together two formidable brands: BYJU’S, with its unmatched breadth of offerings and creator of India’s most-loved school-learning app, and WhiteHat Jr., a hugely popular and unique coding platform. With coding fast emerging as a key skill for the future, this integration will help BYJU’S further expand its offerings in India. This acquisition will also accelerate BYJU’S US expansion plans. This partnership is timely with the Government of India pushing skills such as coding from early classes with the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
After the acquisition, BYJU’S will make significant investments in WhiteHat Jr’s technology platform, product innovation while expanding the teacher base to cater to demand from new markets. WhiteHat Jr. Founder, Karan Bajaj will continue to lead and scale this business in India and the US.
“We started WhiteHat Jr. to make kids creators instead of consumers of technology,” WhiteHat Jr founder Karan Bajaj explains. “Technology is at the centre of every human interaction today and we had set out to create a coding curriculum that was being delivered live and connected students and teachers like never before. Integration with a visionary company such as BYJU’S will help take this idea to new heights and help unleash the remarkable creative potential of kids at a global scale.”
“WhiteHat Jr is the leader in the live online coding space. Karan has proven his mettle as an exceptional founder and the credit goes to him and his team for creating coding programs that are loved by kids. Under his leadership the company has achieved phenomenal growth in India and the US in a short span of time.” said BYJU’S founder and CEO Byju Raveendran says.
“Empowering children with the right future skills has always been part of our vision at BYJU’S and coding fits well into this. WhiteHat Jr’s coding product capabilities, combined with our pedagogy, expertise and scale, will help expand our learning offerings for school students.”,Raveendran adds.
WhiteHat Jr had recently announced their plans to expand to other global markets like Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) after a stellar growth in the US for its one-to-one online coding classes. After launching their courses in the US, since February this year, the company is growing at more than 100% MoM in the country.
Founded in November 2018, WhiteHat Jr. helps kids aged 6 to 14 years build commercial-ready games, animations and apps online using the fundamentals of coding. WhiteHat Jr. offers four levels of courses –
Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Professional – for students in grades 1-9. Kids create complex games, animations and apps using logic, structure, sequence, commands and algorithmic thinking—in a live 1:1 online classroom. Early graduates of the course have created professional-ready apps downloadable on the App Store at ages as young as seven years old.
Launched in 2015, BYJU’S is the leader in offering personalised learning programs for school students in India. With 64 million students cumulatively learning from the app, 4.2 million annual paid subscriptions and an annual renewal rate of 85%, BYJU’S has witnessed phenomenal growth. The app creates personalized learning programs for individual students based on their proficiency levels and capabilities which help them learn at their own pace and style. BYJU’S doubled its revenue from INR 1430 crore to INR 2800 crore in FY 19-20.
Since the lockdown, BYJU’S has seen over 15 million new students start learning from its platform. With temporary closure of schools due to the ongoing pandemic, BYJU’S has become one of the only ways for students to continue learning. Last month, the company launched BYJU’S Classes, a comprehensive online tutoring program that addresses the need for personalised after-school learning solutions with scheduled engagement from India’s top teachers, live doubt solving and personalised mentoring. The company also launched learning programs for History, Civics and Geography. The company did over INR 500 crores in revenue last month.
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Piyush Thakur steps down as Inshorts’ chief revenue officer
Former vice president and cro says exit marks a new chapter after close to a decade of building revenue and partnerships at Inshorts Group.
NOIDA: Piyush Thakur has stepped away from Inshorts Group after nearly 10 years with the company, marking the end of a long tenure that culminated in his role as chief revenue officer.
In a farewell note, Thakur said he was “turning a new page” after almost a decade at Inshorts, calling it one of the hardest professional decisions he has made. He added that his exit was not driven by uncertainty about the future, but by reflection on a long association with the company.
Thakur joined Inshorts in October 2016 as vice president and spent around seven years in the role before being elevated to chief revenue officer in April 2024, a position he held until April 2026.
He said his tenure was defined by “thousands of mornings, late nights, product debates and breakthrough moments”, as the company evolved into a large-scale digital news platform used by millions.
In his note, Thakur emphasised that Inshorts’ growth was a collective effort across teams, adding that engineers, designers, sales teams and customer support staff all contributed to building the platform. He said the company’s success was not the result of individuals but of “everyone who stayed, passed through, and left their mark”.
Before Inshorts, Thakur worked across several digital media and business development roles. At ESPN, he served as senior regional manager from October 2015 to October 2016, focusing on growth initiatives, strategic opportunities and video distribution.
At Times Internet, he worked for nearly three years, including as head of business development from April 2015 to September 2015 and chief manager from January 2013 to March 2015. His responsibilities included monetisation of mobile platforms, managing media and developer partnerships, and driving revenue across digital properties such as The Times of India and The Economic Times.
Earlier, he worked at Brandmovers as head of business development from June 2012 to June 2013, handling digital, mobile and social media marketing solutions, client development and strategic consulting. During this period, he also worked on advertising revenue, brand strategy and CRM-based solutions.
At Inshorts, Thakur’s role focused on revenue strategy, mobile and media partnerships, and growth initiatives across platforms. His profile highlights experience in mobile product management, digital business models, partner ecosystems and revenue expansion in high-growth environments.
