Paytm has acquired education technology startup Edukart. The value of the deal has not been disclosed. The buyout is an acquihire, with all the 50-odd employees having been absorbed in Paytm. Ishan Gupta, founder and CEO of Edukart, has joined Paytm as Vice President of business and will look after Paytm’s seller financing team.
Edukart was founded in 2011 by Ishan Gupta, a management graduate from Stanford University, and Mayank Gupta, an alumnus of IIM, Kozhikode. It was a marketplace that aggregated K 12, degree, diploma and certificate courses, besides coaching for entrance examinations. Before founding Edukart, Ishan had worked with One97 Communications from 2009-11. In a media statement, Ishan said, “I am excited to be back at Paytm to build a large bouquet of service offerings for the merchants on Paytm.”
Edukart’s was backed by funding from, among others, Vijay Shekhar Sharma and cricketer Yuvraj Singh. Since 2015, Paytm has either invested in or bought at least five firms including consumer behaviour prediction and recommendation platform Shifu and home services provider Near.in, apart from investing in online auto-rickshaw aggregator Jugnoo.