BrightCHAMPS acquires Schola, a leading communications and English-learning platform for kids in South-East Asia

Bangalore: Global edtech platform, BrightCHAMPS, has announced the acquisition of Singapore-headquartered Schola, a live-learning platform for kids to master communication and English skills, in a $15 million cash & stock deal. The acquisition comes on the heels of its $100mn investment war-chest announcement in June, and is in line with BrightCHAMPS' vision of becoming the one-stop destination for all next-gen life skills for kids in the K-12 segment.

Announcing the deal, Ravi Bhushan, Founder & CEO, BrightCHAMPS, said, "We're thrilled to welcome Schola to the growing BrightCHAMPS family. The ability to communicate confidently, coherently, and creatively is a crucial life-skill for kids and a prerequisite for success as an adult, and we're excited to have the exceptionally talented Team Schola lead this charge with BrightCHAMPS. Given Schola's profitability and sustainable growth approach with low cash-burn, we already know that there is great synergy between the two companies' operating models. I am confident that with Aditya and Nhu at the forefront, not only will Schola deepen our presence in the 30+ countries we're already operational in, but will also help us introduce BrightCHAMPS to many other parts of the world."

Schola was founded in 2019 by former senior Facebook executives, Aditya Gupta and Nhu Tran Le Thanh. The company offers a variety of courses in a live, 1-on-1 class model for kids from 4 to 15 years of age to build important capabilities for successful global careers tomorrow. These skills include communications, public speaking, leadership presentation, confidence-building, and several others. Additionally, Schola courses have been designed keeping in mind the particular needs of kids who are first-generation English speakers, with an emphasis on learning through real-life practice of spoken English. This has led to the company's consistently industry-leading customer-satisfaction score of 9.6/10. Schola's interactive and immersive curriculum is delivered by teachers who have TEFL or TESOL teaching certificates with native-level or equivalent English speaking proficiency. The company currently offers classes to students from 12 countries, including Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and others.

Aditya Gupta, Co-founder & CEO, Schola, said, "Schola's mission is to build the world's next generation of confident, creative and communicative kids. Far too many kids from countries and families that don't speak English as their first language end up getting overlooked for higher education or career opportunities despite being perfectly qualified in every other way. Our goal is that lack of English proficiency should never again come in the way of a child's dreams once they are touched by Schola. We're excited to join hands with BrightCHAMPS, given our shared ethos and purpose. We hope that the combination of BrightCHAMPS' brand equity and our subject-matter expertise will help Schola lead the world in the communications live-learning space. We look forward to expanding our presence beyond the 12 countries we are currently operational in the months to come."

Launched in 2020, BrightCHAMPS is currently valued at $650 million, after raising $63 million from marquee names across geographies such as US-based GSV Ventures, Singapore-based BEENEXT, and Premji Invest and Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal-backed 021 Capital from India. One of the fastest growing edtechs, globally, it currently employs thousands of educators delivering 300k classes every month across its coding, financial literacy, and robotics verticals for kids between 6 to 16 years of age to help them become future-ready and thrive in a modern world.

About BrightCHAMPS

BrightCHAMPS is a global edtech company poised to deliver access to real learning skills to students around the world. The company's aim is to bridge the gap between school education and children's real learning needs. It aims to empower students to be technologically, financially, and socially smart by leveraging Invisible Learning to nurture the inner potential of every child. BrightCHAMPS' methodology relies on play-based learning, and includes features like customised learning journeys, quizzing and parental dashboards.

BrightCHAMPS was founded in 2020 by Ravi Bhushan, an IIT-Varanasi graduate, who has previously scaled two startups, including housing.com in its heyday, to growth stage businesses. The company boasts of astonishing completion rates of over 90%, renewals that exceed 80%, while maintaining an NPS of well over 70. It is currently operational in 30+ countries, including the US, Canada, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nigeria, and many others.