Scaler, one of the fastest-growing tech upskilling startups, has announced the acquisition of the online learning platform AppliedRoots for 50 million USD to strengthen its Data Science, AI and ML offering. This is the third acquisition for Scaler. Last year (2021), they acquired Coding Minutes and Coding Elements to accelerate the growth of their business.
Bootstrapped by a team of six – Srikanth Varma Chekuri, Murali Krishna Varri, Naveen Reddy Bade, Brahma Reddy, Srinivas Reddy and Satish Atcha – AppliedRoots is known for their flagship AppliedAICourse. Last year, the AppliedRoots team teamed up with the University of Hyderabad (UoH) to offer an online diploma course in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. The platform also provides tech professionals with GATE CS preparation and applied coding tracks. The AppliedRoots team has served 40,000+ learners in the last four years, enabling career transitions of thousands. The e-learning platform is well known for producing over 40 ranks in the top 100 in the GATE CS 2021 exam.
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Announcing the acquisition, Abhimanyu Saxena, Co-founder, Scaler & InterviewBit, said – “We are delighted to welcome the AppliedRoots team to be part of the Scaler ecosystem. All the co-founders have extensive experience across software development, AI & ML and the edtech industry. We feel powerful synergy with their team, their ideas and goals. Together we can accelerate the pace at which we can aid aspiring tech professionals to upskill themselves and create meaningful and rewarding careers. As we build ourselves into a world-class virtual tech varsity, their experiences will come in very handy. This acquisition will allow us to strengthen our DS, ML & Al offering and help us tap into a much wider learner base.”
Scaler Data Science and ML program has seen significant growth and uptake since its launch in mid-2021, with the program accumulating a learner NPS reaching as high as 80. The biggest attraction of the program is that it uses real case studies to teach and has built over 50 business case studies in association with some of the country’s leading tech companies. These organisations are also keen on absorbing these learners post the completion of the course. There is a lot of interest in the market for the program, and Scaler has had to turn down almost 20% of the total applicants owing to limited bandwidth. The acquisition of AppliedRoots will enable Scaler to double down on its efforts to expand the DS&ML vertical.
Post the acquisition, all the six co-founders will join Scaler and lead varied projects. A vast majority of the team of AppliedRoots will work with the Scaler DS&ML business vertical. Some team members will also be building on the content vertical – Scaler Topics – a technopedia and curated interactive space for aspiring software professionals to learn and master the right tech skills. The AppliedRoots team will also be spearheading some new initiatives and programs that are planned for later in the year.
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Srikanth Verma Chekuri, Co-founder, AppliedRoots, Said. “We started AppliedRoots to democratize higher education with phenomenal quality and mentorship, and our vision is in perfect alignment with that of Scaler. Like them, we also focus obsessively on learner success, which is one of the biggest reasons we are thrilled to join the mission. Our immediate goal will be to support the efforts and projects being done in the Data Science & ML team. We will also incorporate a separate Data Analyst Sub track within the Data Science program. Scaler has a mission-oriented and high capability team, and we are looking forward to working with them. It is an exciting time in the ed-tech space in the country, and we are very optimistic about what we can achieve together. We aspire to build the best DS &ML programs in the world.”
Scaler has seen significant growth over the last few years. With over 1000 employees, another 1000 mentors + teaching assistants, and a learner base of more than 15,000 software engineers, the platform is aggressively working towards bridging the tech talent gap in India. Scaler runs India’s largest active online tech community on Discord with a whopping 100,000 members and has become the preferred choice of tech enthusiasts to share their knowledge, collaborate for projects, share memes + job opportunities and discuss everything about technology. They recently raised Series B funding of 55 million USD from Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global, and Lightrock India. The young edtech brand is currently valued at USD 710 million.
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