ALLEN charts expansion, eyes acquisitions and ₹3,800cr IPO to fund next phase

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ALLEN Career Institute, the 38-year-old test-preparation company, is gearing up for a major expansion across India, backed by technology investments, selective acquisitions and a proposed initial public offering (IPO) of around ₹3,800 crore.

The Kota-based education company, which has transformed from a family-run coaching institute into a professionally managed, technology-enabled education business, is looking to use the IPO proceeds to accelerate its regional expansion and strengthen its technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation capabilities.

The company is also evaluating expansion into additional markets through a combination of organic growth and selective acquisitions, according to Nitin Kukreja, CEO of ALLEN Career Institute.

The strategy comes as India’s coaching and supplementary education markets expand rapidly. The indigenous coaching industry is projected to grow from about $32 billion to $52 billion by 2030, while the K-12 supplementary education market represents an opportunity of more than $19 billion, according to sector estimates cited by the company.

In 2022 Bodhi Tree Systems, a joint venture between James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems and former Disney Asia Pacific chief Uday Shankar (managing funds of investors such as Qatar Investment Authority QIA), acquired a 20% stake in the Allen Career Institute for $600 million. The company is believed to have crossed ₹3,700 crore in revenue in FY26, underscoring the scale of its expansion since Bodhi Tree’s investment.

ALLEN has significantly expanded its geographical footprint after spending its first 25 years largely centred on Kota. Its first centres outside the city were opened in Chandigarh and Ahmedabad, followed by expansion into Delhi, Patna, Lucknow, Kanpur, Bhagalpur, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Bhubaneswar and Hyderabad, among other markets.

Between FY22 and FY26, the institute increased its presence from 43 to 64 cities and currently operates across 78 cities in 21 states and union territories. The company is also expanding its foundation programmes for students from Classes VI to X as it seeks to tap demand beyond its traditional engineering and medical test-preparation markets.

“Over the past three years, ALLEN has gone through massive transition from being a family-run business to a professional one,” Kukreja said.

The company is now positioning technology as a central component of its growth strategy. It has deployed more than 200 engineers at its technology centre in Bengaluru to develop products and integrate AI across its online and offline learning ecosystem.

Its ALLEN App is being positioned as a personalised academic companion for offline students, using hundreds of academic data points to generate individual improvement plans.