Within months of launching his new education venture Azent Overseas Education, Atul Nishar, the man behind the creation of computer education institute Aptech and IT services firm Hexaware, has acquired Bangalore based, AdmissionTable.com, an Artificial Intelligence-driven online platform for overseas University admission counselling.

"The reach that we get through this acquisition is important in our scaling up plan," Nishar told BusinessLine in an interview.

"AdmissionTable.com comes with a strong AI platform and as a result if a student wants advice, the system can automatically suggest universities, giving students higher chances of selection based on his or her requirements and abilities. It also gives us reach across India with superior AI-based counselling. The course they should be taking up or universities they should be apply at are identified by the algorithms. A lot of knowledge base reservoir has already been created and will significantly improve our offerings to students," Nishar said.

Azent is jointly run by Nishar and his daughter Priyanka, who lives in New York and is working on building closer relationships with US universities.

US universities have traditionally been the biggest attraction for Indian students. That however is changing, given the stricter visa rules and difficultly in being able to work after graduation in the US. That is making people look for other countries for education, Nishar said.

"US remains an important market for foreign education but we see the growth slowing down. Being able to work in the country after graduation is an important criterion for students and that is becoming challenging in the US. Students are now actively looking at universities in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand," Nishar said.

Nishar has set aside a Rs 250 crore amount to invest in cutting edge technologies, building products and offerings, acquisition and centre infrastructure. About half of this money will however go just into acquisitions.

"We plan to do 3-4 acquisitions over the next three years. We should look at least 1 acquisition a year if not more over the next three years. Whatever fits into our strategy, we'll acquire. We are not raising any funds as we are funding it internally," Nishar said who received Rs 1,000 crore while quitting Hexaware in 2013.

"AdmissionTable.com is an entirely online platform which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot and machine learning tools combined with human counsellors, to assist students with university shortlisting, admission counselling, admission and tutoring for SAT/GRE/GMAT/TOEFL/IELTS all in realtime. With this acquisition and integration of AdmissionTable.com, Azent will provide its students with an unparalleled experience of accessing structured online overseas education counselling anytime anywhere," Priyanka Nishar, Founder, Azent Overseas Education, added.

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