In a media release on 24 October 2025, India-based education agent aggregator, Crizac, announced that it has acquired a ‘controlling stake’ in Studies Planet through its wholly-owned subsidiary Crizac LTD (UK). Studies Planet (StudiesPlanet.com Limited), is a UK-based education company active across Latin America. According to its website, Studies Planet represents 145 universities. The client list appears to comprise of most of the main UK universities, with a handful in each of the other English-speaking destination markets.
Screenshot: Studies Planet home page – 25 October 2025
Crizac identified three key benefits from the acquisition:
- Expansion into Latin America as a source market – where Crizac has limited presence.
- Potential for rapid growth and increased margins.
- Enabling Crizac to offer greater diversification to clients in terms of source geographies.
Chairman and Managing Director of Crizac, Dr Vikash Agarwal said:
Signing this definitive agreement is an important milestone for Crizac Limited as this marks our first external acquisition outside India. We have known the management of [Studies Planet] for a long time and believe that companies have significant synergies which should come into play over the next 12 months. In line with our long-term vision, the Company is actively exploring further opportunities to expand and diversify its business operations, both domestically and internationally, to strengthen our global footprint and create enhanced value for all stakeholders.
The acquisition follows closely on the heels of Crizac’s July 2025 IPO in India. The listing price was around ₹245. At closing on 24 October 2025, the share price was ₹322.25.
Sub-agent army
In its IPO documents, Crizac stated that, as at 31 March 2025, it had 10,362 registered agents of which 3,948 were active. We analysed the implications of those numbers in our post The Pareto Principle: Agent Aggregators and Sub-Agent Risk. The press release on the Studies Planet acquisition states:
The Company has over 13,500 agents globally who are registered on its proprietary technology platform with over 4,000 Active Agents across India and over 25 countries overseas including United Kingdom, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Vietnam, Canada and Egypt [emphasis added].
So Crizac has increased its number of registered agents by 3,138 (30%) in just seven months. The number of active agents has increased by 52, but overall the number of active agents as a percentage of registered agents has decreased.
| As at 24 October 2025 | As at 31 March 2025 | As at 31 March 2024 | As at 31 March 2023 | |
| Active Agents | 4,000 | 3,948 | 2,532 | 1,819 |
| Registered Agents | 13,500 | 10,362 | 6,509 | 4,414 |
| % Active Agents | 29.6% | 38.1% | 38.9% | 41.2% |
What’s next?
In summary, Crizac, which to date has operated a dedicated aggregator (or B2B) model, has acquired Studies Planet, which has operated as a traditional – direct to student (or B2C) – education agent. Institutions that work with Studies Planet should keep an eye on how this acquisition plays out in practice and consider the implications. Will Studies Planet keep operating as a traditional B2C education agency? Perhaps, but it would seem an odd approach for Crizac to buy the business and then maintain a different operating model from its core aggregator/B2B approach. Another possibility is that Studies Planet – that has built up a stable of university clients, presumably with extant contracts that authorise LATAM region recruitment – becomes a beach head for Crizac to recruit a network of sub-agents in South America. In this second scenario Studies Planet may remain a separate brand, but would morph over time from a traditional agency (B2C) operating model into either an aggregator (B2B), or hybrid model (i.e. where it works directly with students but also recruits and supports sub-agents). Time will tell.
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