EduKart, an India-based online education provider backed by software provider AKM Systems, has been acqui-hired by e-commerce and mobile payment company One 97 Communications, LiveMint reported on Monday.
Founded in 2011, EduKart had built an online marketplace for educational courses and exam coaching. It had raised about $2m in funding, $500,000 of which came from a 2013 round featuring AKM, Kima Ventures, angel investor Vibhor Mehra and Stanford Business School Alumni Angels.
EduKart raised another $1m in a June 2015 round led by United Finsec, a subsidiary of conglomerate Holostik Group, and backed by venture capital firm YouWeCan, the Stanford alumni angel group and assorted other angel investors.
However, the company had failed to raise the additional capital it needed and as a result has been acqui-hired by One97, the parent company of mobile payment platform Paytm. Ishan Gupta, EduKart’s founder and CEO, worked at One97 between 2009 and 2011.
The deal included no cash consideration, according to the Economic Times, which reported that it included only 50 EduKart employees. EduKart is in separate talks with other education companies over the sale of assets such as brand, content and technology.