Blackstone acquires majority stake in homegrown firm Simplilearn

Leading investment firm Blackstone on Monday announced that it has acquired a controlling stake in homegrown online learning platform Simplilearn.

Touted as an online bootcamp for digital economy skills training, Simplilearn was founded in 2010 in Bengaluru, and offers over 100 programmes to help early to mid-career professionals acquire new-age digital skills across the spectrum.

"We believe Blackstone can add significant value to our company because of their scale, commitment to building businesses, and global network, which will enable us to develop partnerships with businesses and universities as Simplilearn continues to expand around the world," said Krishna Kumar, Founder and CEO, Simplilearn.

"We would also like to thank our previous investors, Kalaari Capital, Helion Venture Partners and Mayfield Fund for their undaunted support and trust in our journey of becoming a market leader," he added.

Earlier this month, Simplilearn announced to onboard five million learners in the next two years on its SkillUp platform.

The company is currently collaborating with educational institutes such as Caltech CTME, MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, UMass Amherst and the Isenberg School of Management, Purdue Online, Jagdish Sheth School of Management and IIT Kanpur and companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and KPMG.

"This is Blackstone's first private equity investment in Asia in a consumer technology company. Simplilearn is a differentiated player in the digital skilling space with premium content created in partnership with marquee university and industry partners," said Amit Dixit, Head of Asia for Blackstone Private Equity.

Blackstone brings global expertise in education technology, including the partnership with Aakash Educational Services and Byju's to build India's largest digitally enabled, omnichannel education company.