Eruditus, an online professional upskilling platform, has secured $650 million in new investment led by Accel and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 for a post-money valuation of $3.2 billion, making it a unicorn. Existing investors The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Leeds Illuminate, and Prosus have also funded the series E investment, which comprises a combination of main and secondary transactions.
The current fund-raise has roughly quadrupled the value of the edtech business, which was previously valued at approximately $700-$800 million. Investors have put in around $430 million in main capital, with a secondary component of $220 million, with current investor Bertelsmann selling a portion of its shares, according to sources.
Accel’s largest single edtech investment, as well as one of the largest for an education upskilling platform, was raised in this round. In August of last year, the company received $113 million in funding from a group of investors. Eruditus operates an online upskilling network that serves over 250,000 professionals in more than 80 countries.
In collaboration with more than 50 global universities, the business provides more than 250 professional learning programs. Employers are increasingly looking to hire workers who are familiar with developing technologies in the post-pandemic era, thus upskilling has become more important. In addition, the firm claims to be one of the first to provide small private online classes.
Eruditus, a Mumbai-based company with operations in several foreign locations, recently purchased iD Tech for $200 million to enter the K12 market. iD Tech, situated in the United States, offers STEM programs for students aged 7 to 19.
The majority of the additional funds will be used to support the startup’s acquisition of iD Tech, as well as further acquisitions and expansion into new geographic areas. In addition, some of the money will be used to build new courses in collaboration with university partners, as well as to develop new products and industry verticals.
In the previous twelve months, Eruditus claims to have grown by more than 100% year on year across all markets. The firm claimed in a statement that it is on target to generate more than $500 million in bookings this year, making it the fastest-growing ed-tech skilling platform.
Upskilling efforts, according to the World Economic Forum, have the potential to produce 5.3 million net new employment by 2030. Furthermore, half of all jobs worldwide will require reskilling by 2025.
UpGrad, a competitor that also focuses on professional upskilling, became a unicorn earlier this week after closing a $185 million funding round led by Temasek, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and IIFL. Byju’s recently announced the $600-million acquisition of Great Learning as part of its plan to expand into the professional upskilling and higher education market.
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