Last Updated on 22/11/2021 by Sanskriti
On Thursday with the amount of $650 million was raised as to its latest round of funding, declared by the Mumbai-based educational technology startup Eruditus. The funding round was led by Accel US and Softbank Vision bank II. The startup is worth $3.2 billion, according to the valuation.
According to the above-mentioned source, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and previous investors Prosus Ventures spearheaded the secondary round, injecting close to $185 million as part of this round.
According to reports, Eruditus’ current investor Bertelsmann India Investments would depart the business as a result of this.
Eruditus is now India’s fourth unicorn edtech company, according to its latest funding. UpGrad, an even higher learning business, joined India’s unicorn stable earlier this week after completing a $185 million fundraising sponsored by Temasek Holdings Ltd, valued at $1.2 billion.
Eruditus’ financial advisor on the purchase was Avendus.
Naspers and Tiger Global-backed Byju’s and SoftBank-backed Unacademy are the other two top Edtech unicorns, with valuations of $16.5 billion and $3.44 billion.
Softbank is making its second significant investment in India’s booming edtech scene.
The funds will be used to build new courses with university partners, develop new products and industry verticals, expand into new geographic areas, and fund acquisitions, according to the firm. Eruditus’ latest investment follows its $200 million purchase of iD Tech, which marked the company’s foray into the kindergarten-12 (K-12) sector. Co-founder and chief executive officer Ashwin Damera said, “Eruditus’ mission is to make high-quality education accessible and affordable to learners across the world. With this fundraiser, we’re excited to scale our unique business model, continue to deliver strong learning outcomes, and grow our global impact at a rapid rate.”
Eruditus’ upskilling platform, which has over 250 learning programmes, is aimed at professionals. The programmes are designed in collaboration with a network of more than 50 top-tier colleges across the world, according to the firm.
At the moment, it has taught more than 250,000 people in more than 80 nations.
“With the rapid rate of technological disruption, continuous upskilling is necessary for today’s job market. The company’s partnerships with elite universities, and use of technology and data to create and deliver high-quality courses positions Eruditus to lead in this space,” said Sumer Juneja, partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers.
Small private online courses are offered by the firm, which is a field into which upGrad has also entered after acquiring KnowledgeHut.
“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. Their products are helping bring the best quality education to students around the world at affordable prices,” said Anand Daniel, partner at Accel.
