Online upskilling platform for professionals, Eruditus has raised $650 million in fresh funding led by Accel and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a post-money valuation of $3.2 billion, joining the ranks of unicorn. The series E investment, which includes a mix of primary and secondary transactions, has also been backed by existing investors The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Leeds Illuminate and Prosus. The edtech firm that was last valued at around $700-$800 million has seen its valuation increase by nearly four times with the latest fund-raise.
Investors have infused about $430 million in primary capital while the secondary component amounts to $220 million as part of which existing investor Bertelsmann is selling part of its shares, sources said.
The funding round marks Accel’s largest single edtech investment and is also one of the biggest for an education upskilling platform.
The firm had last raised about $113 million in financing from a clutch of investors in August last year.
Eruditus runs an online upskilling platform that caters to more than 250,000 professionals across over 80 countries. The firm offers more than 250 professional learning programmes in partnership with over 50 global universities. The need for upskilling has gained precedence in the post-pandemic world as employers increasingly look to hire staff who are conversant with evolving technology. The company also claims to be one of the first movers in the small private online courses.
Mumbai-based Eruditus that has offices in a clutch of international locations recently acquired iD Tech in a $200-million deal to foray into the K12 space. US-based iD Tech provides STEM programmes for learners in the 7-19 age bracket.
The start-up will use the bulk of the fresh capital to fund its acquisition of iD Tech, ink other acquisitions and expand into new geographical markets. Besides, portions of the funds will also be deployed to develop new courses in conjunction with university partners, create new products and industry verticals.
Eruditus claims to have seen a more than 100% year-on-year growth in the last twelve months across markets. “The company is on track to realise more than $500 million in bookings this year, making it the fastest growing ed-tech skilling platform,” the firm said in a statement.
According to the World Economic Forum, upskilling efforts have the potential to create 5.3 million net new jobs by 2030. Additionally, by 2025, half of all employees around the world will require reskilling.
Earlier this week, rival upGrad that also focuses on the professional upskilling segment turned unicorn with a valuation of $1.2 billion after it closed a $185 million financial round backed by Temasek, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and IIFL. Byju’s recently announced the acquisition of Great Learning in a significant $600-million deal as it looks to foray into the professional upskilling and higher education space.
