Edtech Eruditus turns unicorn after raising $650M from Accel, Softbank, others

Mumbai-based Eruditus has now joined the unicorn startup club after raising $650 million (about Rs 4,829 crore) in a funding round at a post-money valuation of $3.2 billion. With this, Eruditus is now India's fourth edtech startup to achieve unicorn status.

The funding round saw participation from Accel, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and existing investors, including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia India, Bertelsmann, Prosus Ventures, and Leeds Illuminate.

Previously, the edtech startup had raised $113 million in a Series D funding round in August 2020, co-led by Ved Capital, Prosus, Sequoia Capital India, others, at a valuation of $700 million.

Eruditus is now the 23rd unicorn startup in the Indian startup ecosystem. Previously, crypto exchange CoinDCX and edtech startup upGrad attained unicorn status. According to a statement, The startup will use the raised capital to develop new courses, create new products and industry verticals, expanding to other verticals, and to fund acquisitions.

“Eruditus’ mission is to make high-quality education accessible and affordable to learners across the world,” said Ashwin Damera, Co-founder and CEO, Eruditus. “With this fundraise, we’re excited to scale our unique business model, continue to deliver strong learning outcomes, and grow our global impact at a rapid rate," he adds.

Incepted in 2010 by Chaitanya Kalipatnapu and Ashwin Damera, Eruditus is an online learning platform that partners with top universities across the United States, Europe, Latin America, India, and China to offer executive-level courses for working professionals across 80+ countries.

Some of the top universities it has tied up with include Columbia University, Harvard Business School, INSEAD, Tuck at Dartmouth, Wharton, UC Berkeley, MIT, IIT, IIM, and London Business School.

Eruditus claims that in the last 12 months it has witnessed 100% growth and is on the way to touch more than $500 million in gross annual bookings by the end of FY22.

“The unbundling of higher education and continued learning has only just started. We believe that the platform and deep partnerships with the world’s best universities put Eruditus and its partner universities at the forefront of this revolution in higher education," said Anand Daniel, Partner at Accel.

The startup currently has more than 1,400 employees globally and has its offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Shanghai, Singapore, Palo Alto, Mexico City, New York, Boston, London, and Dubai. Eruditus is a global leader in the $280 billion global professional education market, it claims.

Also Read:

• Crypto exchange CoinDCX joins unicorn club at a valuation of $1.1B

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