UpGrad scores $185mn to join India’s edtech unicorns

Bloomberg

UpGrad has raised $185 million from Temasek Holdings Pte and other investors over a span of a few months this year, garnering a valuation of $1.2 billion that ranks it as India’s third-largest edtech unicorn.
The higher education startup doubled in valuation within
60 days of its first financing round of $120 million from Temasek, later adding another $65 million from latest backers International Finance Corporation and India’s IIFL. In a release, the startup referenced but did not confirm Indian media reports it’s now in discussions to raise $400 million at a $4 billion valuation.
India’s education startups are riding a upswell of demand during the pandemic that’s buoyed leader Byju’s and smaller rivals like Unacademy and UpGrad. Dozens of startups have closed funding rounds from global investors betting on Indian-built startups going international.
“We are very focused on our path to being in the top 3-5 companies globally in EdTech and serve the one billion workforce across the age group of 18 to 60 years,” Ronnie Screwvala, UpGrad’s chairperson and co-founder, said in a statement.
The 64-year-old Mumbai-based entrepreneur pioneered cable television in India in the 1980s, then built a unicorn acquired by Walt Disney Co. UpGrad, his latest venture, was established in 2015.
At an annual revenue run rate of over $165 million, UpGrad said in April it will use the capital to scale up in overseas markets, make acquisitions, expand its graduate degree portfolio and launch an app to offer everything from masters classes to soft skills training. Screwvala had said sales would double every year and the firm is targeting $2 billion in revenue by 2026.
UpGrad Education Pvt, as the startup is formally called, offers over 100 courses in subjects like data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, coding, finance and law, in collaboration with universities like Michigan State University and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.