Allen Career Institute said it has appointed former Meta executive Abha Maheshwari as chief executive (CEO) of its edtech arm Allen Digital. Maheshwari will build and lead Allen’s digital and technology teams in Bengaluru and help create digital-first products for students.

Having entered the edtech sector in June last year, Allen wants to provide digital learning modules and crash courses for IIT Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Exam (NEET) segments.

“I am thrilled to join Allen at a time when education is being revolutionised through technology interventions. I look forward to building upon Allen’s rich academic legacy and scaling access to education through technology-enabled, digital experiences,” Maheshwari said.

In her previous role, Maheshwari served as the director and head of commerce & payments, product partnerships for India. Prior to that, she served as the director of partner product solutions for commerce and ads business at Meta-owned Instagram.

“Abha’s expertise in product management, growth, and partnerships in global consumer technology companies will help bolster our efforts to scale digital-first consumer experience at Allen,“ ” said Nitin Kukreja, chief executive officer, Allen Career Institute.

Incoming competition from edtechs

Allen is strengthening its edtech playbook at a time when several major players including Byju’s, Unacademy and Vedantu have opened offline learning centers, as Covid-led growth towards online learning tapers off.Allen had also roped in Ankit Khurana as chief product officer and Saurabh Tandon as chief technology officer last year to strengthen its edtech business.

In a recent note to employees, Unacademy founder Gaurav Munjal said that its offline play, Unacademy Centres, is already clocking Rs 400 crore in revenue in 2023, adding that the company aims to take its centre count from 10 to 58 by the end of the year.

In comparison, Allen Career Institute has a pan-India base of more than 200 classroom centers across 53 cities.

Vedantu doubled down on its hybrid learning strategy last year with the acquisition of offline learning chain Deeksha Learning for $40 million. In fact, even Byju’s, which acquired offline test prep chain Aakash in 2021 for almost $1 billion, has already deployed its hybrid learning model through Aakash Byju’s Neo.

Last year, Brajesh Maheshwari, director and cofounder of Allen Career Institute, released a video statement warning teachers on its platform against moving to its rival offline coaching centres backed by startups. Maheshwari also referred to the edtech firm’s attempts to poach teachers from Allen as a ‘mayajaal’ (trap).

In 2022, Kota-headquartered Allen received an investment of $600 million from Bodhi Tree Systems to help scale up the institute and leverage digital technology to improve learning outcomes for students in India and abroad. Bodhi Tree Systems now holds a 36% stake in Allen Career Institute.

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