Online Tutoring Center InstaEDU Acquired By Chegg For $30 Million

Chegg, the textbook resale site turned all things student hub, today announced a $30 million cash acquisition of student tutoring marketplace InstaEDU.

An acquisition like this makes sense for Chegg. The company started out as an online textbook reseller hub but now endeavors to own the whole student marketplace. While there are certainly some big competitors like Wyzant or Tutor Universe, InstaEDU is one of the few online tutoring service providers available regardless of location.

CEO Dan Rosensweig says company leadership had been looking for over a year to find the right type of tutoring company to add to its ranks after realizing it was around a $60 billion global market. InstaEDU caught Rosensweig’s eye because it does not rely on location and has quickly scaled into a platform that connects students with on-demand tutors in over 2,500 subjects, ranging from high school and standardized test prep, all the way through advanced college concepts.

The acquisition proposal makes sense on InstaEDU’s end as well. The tutoring company, which specializes in pairing students with tutors who have similar interests, now has access to Chegg’s 13 million high school and college students.

According to Chegg’s preliminary use case for the acquisition, which basically allowed Chegg’s student users to click right into InstaEdu from the site, growth was up by 103% month over month in a three-month period. That was up from just 34% growth for the prior three months.

Chegg sees more coming from this acquisition than just a tutoring business. Rosensweig confirmed a coming student graph that will enable the company to hook up the right students in certain areas of study, grades and material with the right tutors as well as with the right scholarships and test prep.

CEO of InstaEDU Alison Johnston Rue will stay on to lead Chegg’s new tutoring business.