The edtech unicorn upGrad has today said it has raised a fresh round of funds to the tune of $210 Mn from key investors and family offices who join the company capitalization table.
This round has witnessed participation from ETS Global (the world’s largest TOEFL & GRE Test Leader), Bodhi Tree (a JV of James Murdoch & Uday Shankar). Other investors that participated in the round include – Singapore’s Kaizen Management Advisors Pvt. Ltd, Family office of Bharti Airtel, Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office (Ambuja Cements and ACC), and Artisan Investments (Family Office of Lakshmi Mittal – Arcelor Mittal) along with existing investors Temasek, IFC, and IIFL.
In order to maintain their more than 50% stake in the edtech company, the Founder Group also invested $12.5 Mn in this funding round.
Sharing their views on the fundraise, upGrad Co-founders, Ronnie Screwvala and Mayank Kumar in a joint statement said, “We welcome our new investors and industry veterans to the upGrad cap table. There is a massive Re-skilling Revolution taking place around the world and over the last 5 years, our 4800+ colleagues have worked hard & smart to be at the epicenter of taking advantage of this, not just in India but around the world. Higher EdTech will be on the rise for the next 4 to 5 decades. upGrad in the last 12 months has re-shaped itself to be the most integrated company in this space with career opportunities for the College learners and Working Professionals from the age of 18 to 58 and will be a lifelong learning partner for millions in the coming years. We have always been very capital efficient while growing 100% year-on-year and hope to retain that discipline.”
With the fresh fundraise, the company plans to increase its team strength from the present 4,800 to 7,600 during the course of the next three months. This includes roughly 170 full-time faculty; 1,600 teachers, and more than 5000 on-contract coaches and mentors.
With a program completion rate of over 80 percent, upGrad has defied the trend of slump in the edtech sector and emerged as a world leader in higher education.
About 40 percent of the total revenue of upGrad is realized from Repeats and Referrals year-on-year, according to the company.
The edtech startup is on track to generate annual gross revenue worth $400-500 Mn in the current financial year. According to the company, about 45 percent of the total revenues for FY23 will be realised from upGrad’s own-branded online courses and programs.
Founded in 2015, upGrad is a pioneer in the online education space. The company is focused on promoting career success for a global workforce of over 1.3 Bn with the help of its online education platform.
With a learner base of over 3 Mn across 100+ countries and over 300 University partners, it is one of the few Integrated Life Long Learning Tech Companies in the world, spanning the college learner to the working professional from the age group of 18-50 years and across Undergrad courses, Campus & Job Linked Programs, Studying Abroad, short form to executive programs to Degrees, Masters, and Doctoral.
Termed as a leader in Asia’s higher edtech market, upGrad is now steadily expanding its activities across the globe to become the world’s leading edtech platform. Apart from India, it is currently operating in the Middle East, Singapore, the UK, the US and Vietnam, and various other countries.
