Indian commerce giant Paytm acqui-hires edtech start-up 
Indian digital commerce platform Paytm has acqui-hired edtech start-up Earth Education Valley, the creator of EduKart, a student course marketplace. Earth Education Valley’s founder, Ishan Gupta, will oversee the seller ecosystem for the commerce side of Paytm, with the 50-strong EduKart team also expected to join. Paytm’s founder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, had previously been an angel investor for the start-up. Earth Education Valley may sell its EduKart assets to other Indian ed-tech companies, with a cash-and-equity deal in progress. 

Bengaluru: Digital payments and commerce platform Paytm has acqui-hired an education tech startup Earth Education Valley, which runs EduKart, a marketplace offering courses to students. The company’s founder, Ishan Gupta, will look after the seller ecosystem for the commerce business of Paytm. The 50-member EduKart team is expected to join the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led firm.Acqui-hiring is buying out a company primarily to acquire talent. When contacted, Gupta confirmed the development to TOI. He had earlier worked with Paytm in its One97 avatar before starting his own venture in 2011.“My whole team has joined Paytm in various roles. Their (Paytm) commerce vertical is expanding and has become a key business. I will be looking after the seller ecosystem for the company’s commerce platform. Having worked with One 97 in the past, the transition is expected to be quite smooth,” he told TOI.According to people aware of the development, the startup is in talks with a couple of ed-tech companies in India to sell its assets under the EduKart business. Gupta declined to offer details on the matter. It is learnt that a mix of cash-and-equity deal is in the works, which could be finalised in the next few weeks.The five-year-old venture had Paytm’s founder Sharma as an angel investor and had raised $2 million in capital from 500 Startups and Yuvraj Singh’s YouWeCan Ventures.Online education companies are attracting significant interest from investors with companies such as Bjyu’s raising over $150 million in quick succession from marquee names. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who has set up a philanthropic organistaion with his wife Priscilla Chan, recently led a $50-million financing round in Byju’s. Unacademy also raised fresh funds from entrepreneurs like Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, besides others.