Byju's buys American reading app Epic! for $500 million
India's most valuable unicorn sharpens its global focus with its second kids' edtech buyout in America in two years
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In what marks a deeper play for Byju’s in the global market, India’s biggest edtech player has bought American digital reading platform for kids Epic! for $500 million. Co-founded by Suren Markosian and Kevin Donahue in 2013, Epic! boasts of a collection of over 40,000 books, audiobooks and videos for kids under 12.
The acquisition of Epic!—Byju’s second buyout in the US since it bought Osmo for $120 million in 2019—will help the Indian edtech biggie expand its American footprint by getting access to over two million teachers and 50 million kids from Epic’s global user base that more than doubled over the last year. Partnership with Epic!, underlines Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO of the eponymous edtech firm, will enable the company to create engaging and interactive reading and learning experiences for children globally. “Our mission is to fuel curiosity and make students fall in love with learning,” he adds.
For Epic!, Byju’s came up as a strategic and natural fit. “The alignment of our mission and shared passion makes Byju’s the perfect partner,” says Suren Markosian, co-founder of Epic!. The acquisition, he lets on, will ignite excitement for learning around the world. The idea behind creating Epic!, Markosian explains, was to make quality books more accessible to kids everywhere, and to build a safe place for them to discover the joy and magic of reading in their own way. “Together, we can help empower future generations of kids by fostering a lifetime love for reading and learning,” he added.
