Info Edge (India) Limited has invested INR 135.4 crore ($17 million) to acquire a majority stake in Delhi-based education technology platform Coding Ninjas, becoming a majority shareholder in the startup by increasing its stake from 26% to 51%.
As per its regulatory filing the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the board at Info Edge has approved a resolution to acquire 27,089 equity and 22,839 CCPS via primary and secondary purchases at an aggregate consideration of Rs 135.4 crore or $17 million.
The investment would help the company to explore and maximize business synergies between the two platforms – Naukri and Coding Ninjas, the company further mentioned in the filing.
Co-founded by Ankush Singla, Kannu Mittal and Dhawal Parate in 2016, Coding Ninjas offers online computer language courses that are used to design applications, and software, among others. The platform also provides the basic foundation of coding in Java, Python, and C++ and helps students with competitive programming, interview preparation and data science. The startup is on a mission to train the next generation of developers and to transform the way tech education is delivered in India.
Operated by Sunrise Mentors Pvt. Ltd, Coding Ninjas has pioneered a proprietary online teaching platform, which completely mirrors the offline classroom experience into online, and thus delivers a world-class learning experience to students. Its online programming classes are adaptive and judge the codes instantly. It has a Teaching Assistant model which provides almost real-time doubt support for the enrolled students.
Info Edge has backed several startups including Adda247, Ustraa, Broker Network and Tractor Junction in 2022 so far. The company had previously invested Rs 37.10 crore ($5.2 million) in Coding Ninja in 2020 for a 25% stake.
According to the statement, Info Edge also has an option to increase its stake in the startup in the future, if it fulfills certain conditions and performance milestones.
Last month, the Noida-based internet giant had invested about Rs 80 crore in vernacular test preparation platform Adda 247, its fourth investment in the company since 2019. Prior to that, Info Edge, through its subsidiary Allcheckdeals, announced an investment of Rs 90 crore in 4B Networks Pvt Ltd-operated Broker Network in September this year.
