upGrad, India’s largest online higher education technology platform, has acquired Rekrut India, a recruitment and staffing solutions company, marking a unique merger and acquisition in India’s edtech sector.
Rekrut India, based in Mumbai, specializes in building organizational human capital through deep sector expertise, a network of over 100 recruitment experts, and innovative hiring models tailored to today’s complex job market. It serves startups, MSMEs, and large enterprises with agile and adaptive recruitment solutions.
This acquisition significantly enhances upGrad’s focus on delivering strong career outcomes for its learners by providing access to a broader network of hiring partners. The founders of upGrad — Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, and Phalgun Kompalli — stated, “Rekrut will now open the floodgates of career opportunities for upGrad learners, marking a major step towards becoming a career powerhouse for professionals worldwide.”
Post-acquisition, Rekrut India will operate as a 100% subsidiary of upGrad, retaining Ajay Shah as Managing Director. The recruitment sector in India, valued at around ₹15,000 crore, presents strong growth potential, and upGrad views this acquisition as a strategic move to unlock nonlinear growth in its career ecosystem.
Ajay Shah commented, “The upGrad-Rekrut synergy will disrupt the ecosystem by creating an end-to-end manpower supply chain — Rekrut providing cutting-edge job demand, and upGrad supplying future-ready skilled talent. This will accelerate talent placement speed and expand career transition options for upGrad learners.”
Gaurav Kumar, President – Corporate Development at upGrad, added, “Our M&A strategy aims to build a broader higher education and career ecosystem. Rekrut’s capabilities align perfectly with our goal to deliver measurable ROI to learners. We plan to triple our paid learner base to 1.2 million by FY25, and this acquisition will accelerate those efforts.”
With Rekrut’s expertise, upGrad expects to multiply its placement volumes by 10 times, further bridging the gap between online education and recruiter acceptance, and driving meaningful career outcomes at scale.
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