Mukesh Ambani doubles his bet on edtech – Reliance Industries invests ₹500 crore in startup Embibe

• Reliance Industries invested an additional ₹500 crore in its education startup Embibe.
• These funds come in right after Reliance’s ₹90 crore investment in the startup in February.
• Embibe has also been in an acquisition spree. In February 2020, it acquired the rival platform OnlineTyari, while in December 2019 it had gobbled up another competitor Funtoot.

Mukesh Ambani – the richest man in India – knows how to play his cards right. As Covid-19 pandemic spreads and his own company Reliance piles up debt, Ambani set his sights on a booming sector – education.

Today, Reliance Industries invested an additional ₹500 crore in its education startup Embibe, according to reports. This comes right after a ₹90 crore investment in the startup he made, in February. Embibe is an Artificial Intelligence powered learning platform founded in 2012 by entrepreneur Aditi Awasthi and Reliance acquired 73% stake in the startup in April 2018.

Meanwhile, Embibe itself has also been in an acquisition spree. In February 2020, it acquired the rival platform OnlineTyari, while in December 2019 it gobbled up another competitor Funtoot.

Reliance’s continuous investments in Embibe come at a time when the education technology sector is booming. As schools shut down due the coronavirus pandemic, teachers and students have gone online. Edutech platforms witnessed a meteoric rise. Byju’s, the online learning platform, saw 6 million new students in the month of March alone.

This could be a calculated move by Ambani whose wealth has been falling due to Covid-19 and volatility in crude oil prices. His net worth dropped by 28% in just two months to $48 billion, according to a report by Bloomberg.

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