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Tech upskilling startup Scaler on Thursday announced the acquisition of online learning platform AppliedRoots for $50 million.

The acquisition, said the platform, will help it strengthen its data science, AI and ML offering and tap into a much wider learner base.

This is the third acquisition for Scaler. Last year, they acquired Coding Minutes and Coding Elements.

"Together, we can accelerate the pace at which we can aid aspiring tech professionals to upskill themselves and create meaningful careers, as we build ourselves into a world-class virtual tech varsity," said Abhimanyu Saxena, Co-founder, Scaler and InterviewBit.

Launched in 2019, Scaler is backed by global investors like Sequoia Capital India, Tiger Global and Lightrock India. Scaler recently raised Series B funding of $55 million, and is currently valued at $710 million.

Bootstrapped by a team of six — Srikanth Varma Chekuri, Murali Krishna Varri, Naveen Reddy Bade, Brahma Reddy, Srinivas Reddy and Satish Atcha — AppliedRoots is known for their flagship AppliedAICourse.

Post the acquisition, all the six co-founders will join Scaler and lead varied projects.

Last year, the AppliedRoots team teamed up with the University of Hyderabad (UoH) to offer an online diploma course in AI and ML.

The team has served more than 40,000 learners in the last four years, and claims to have produced over 40 ranks in the top 100 in the GATE CS 2021 exam.

"Our immediate goal will be to support the efforts and projects being done in the data science and ML team. We will also incorporate a separate Data Analyst Sub track within the Data Science programme," said Chekuri.