Blackstone Invests $250 Million For Majority Stake In Simplilearn
- ByAyushi Ray | July 19, 2021
Blackstone invests $250 million for a majority stake in Simplilearn, a Bangalore based e-learning platform. This marks Blackstone’s first PE investment in Asia and India’s tech space. With the pandemic boosting more and more online platforms, and certificate courses to come forward, more and more e-learning platforms are also receiving funds and M&As helping them to grow, Blackstone’s rough total investment stands around $400 million. Blackstone is buying out Simplilearn’s investors Kalaari, Helion and Mayfield Fund that had invested $28 million. They are said to be exiting with a return which is 6 – 15 times higher. Blackstone, which has $112 billion in corporate PE assets under management (AUM), has $550 billion of AUM so far in India. Which includes IT firms such as Mphasis and Piramal Glass
Balckstone has also invested in Aakash Educational Services, which was recently acquired by Byju’s for about $1 million. Blackstone has added edtech firms to its global portfolio, including Ascend Learning, which provides software and solutions for vocational education, Ellucian, a software provider to global universities, and Articulate, a SaaS platform for corporate training. Simplilearn would use the fund to set foot in the US and Europe, and would enter into partnership with global universities. Obviously such a huge market presence would call for doubling their employees, they want to make their present 1500 number of team members to 3000 in the next 1 – 1.5 year. They also plan on buying back employee stock options that would benefit 100 employees.
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