Edtech unicorn Emeritus secures $350 million in debt from Canadian Pension Board

By Salman SH

Edtech start-up Emeritus, a part of the Eruditus Group has secured $350 million in debt financing from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board through its subsidiary CPPIB Credit Investments Inc.

The Mumbai and Singapore based start-up said that it will use the debt money primarily for mergers and acquisition as part of its global expansion strategy.

Founded in 2015 by Ashwin Damera, Chaitanya Kalipatnapu, Emeritus has raised around $1 billion in funding to date including the current round. Some of its top investors include names like Softbank, Accel, The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia India, Prosus and others.

Prior to the debt fundraise from CPPIB, Emeritus had secured a large funding worth $650 million at a $3.2 billion valuation led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Accel in August 2021.

Emeritus offers upskilling training, certifications, and online courses to individuals, companies, and governments around the world through tie-ups with universities across the United States, Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, India and China.

In FY21, alone, Emeritus claimed to have onboarded learners in more than 80 countries and offered programs through partnerships with more than 50 of the world’s top universities. In 2021, it acquired Silicon Valley-based iD Tech, which marked Emeritus’ expansion into the K12 space.

As remote learning continues to boom coming out of the pandemic, Emeritus said that its year-on-year growth rate has touched 120%. It is targeting gross bookings of $500 million for the financial year. The pipeline of potential acquisitions is expected to contribute up to 30% of Emeritus’ top-line and EBITDA in the next five years, the start-up said in a statement.

“Emeritus will expand our mission of making education accessible around the world by deepening our investment in the education space to reach different segments and audiences. Our acquisition pipeline will enable us to accelerate growth, impact more learners, and improve our profitability,” said Ashwin Damera, Co-founder & CEO, Emeritus and Eruditus in a statement.