Toprankers, an edtech platform, has announced its acquisition of career guidance platform ProBano. The acquisition will allow Toprankers to leverage ProBano’s expertise in offering career guidance services to high school students aged between 13 and 18.
Founded in 2016 by Aditya Bose, ProBano helps students make well-informed career choices and build up the necessary skills for the same. It claims to have counselled more than 30,000 students across 24 states so far. With this acquisition, Toprankers is developing a career discovery and experience platform that will enable high school students to explore their passions and offer skill-building opportunities across diverse career domains.
Gaurav Goel, CEO and cofounder of Toprankers, commented on the acquisition, saying, “We will help the next 10 lakh to 1 crore high school students explore different career options, discover their passion, and pursue it.” Toprankers will integrate ProBano’s CEO Aditya Bose and team into its existing employee base. The company will also be harnessing ProBano’s expertise in implementing Career Discovery & Experience Programs (CDEP) with high school students associated with NGOs, CSR initiatives, and affordable private schools.
Toprankers, founded in 2014 by Mehbub Hussain along with Goel, has been eyeing expansion for some time now. Last year, it raised $4 million as part of its Series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures. The investments were meant to be used for strengthening its product line and launching new offerings, in addition to optimizing marketing and strengthening its technology platform.
This acquisition is the latest in a series of similar moves in the Indian edtech space. Last month, edtech unicorn LEAD completed the acquisition of education group Pearson’s K-12 learning business in India, which helped the startup expand its reach to 5 million students across the country. Additionally, another Indian edtech platform, PhysicsWallah, reportedly acquired UAE-based K-12 online learning platform Knowledge Planet for an undisclosed sum intending to expand across the Gulf region.
The acquisition of ProBano by Toprankers highlights the growing importance of career guidance and skill-building opportunities for high school students in India. With ProBano’s expertise and Toprankers’ existing platform, the company is poised to make a significant impact on the Indian edtech market.
