Mumbai-headquartered edtech major, Eruditus’s subsidairy Emeritus has secured $350 million in a debt financing round from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments). The company said that the funding will be used by Emeritus to fuel mergers and acquisition as part of a robust global growth strategy. After OYO, Ola and Byju's, Eruditus is the fourth major start-up which has raised a major chunk of funds through debt financing.
As remote learning continues to boom coming out of the pandemic, Emeritus is growing and innovating to meet market demand. With a year-on-year growth rate of 120 per cent, Emeritus estimates gross bookings of $500 million for the financial year. As the company continues to grow 2.5x organically, Emeritus will also accelerate growth through inorganic initiatives. The pipeline of potential acquisitions is expected to contribute up to 30 per cent of Emeritus’ top line and EBITDA in the next five years, the company said.
The edtech firm said that post the completion of the debt financing, Emeritus will have raised more than $1 billion in debt and equity. CPP Investments also participated in Emeritus’ $650 million funding round in August 2021, which advanced Emeritus’ valuation to $3.2 billion, quadrupling its Series D valuation from August 2020. Investors in Emeritus also include Accel, Softbank Vision Fund 2, GSV, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Leeds Illuminate and Prosus, as well as Sequoia Capital India and Bertelsmann and Chimera.
“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,” said Ashwin Damera, co-founder & CEO, Emeritus and Eruditus. “Our acquisition pipeline will enable us to accelerate growth, impact more learners, and improve our profitability,” he added.
“The investment in Emeritus demonstrates our continued commitment to support industry leaders in India, one of our key markets in Asia Pacific” said Raymond Chan, Managing Director, Head of APAC Credit, CPP Investments. “The investment is also aligned with our strategy of pursuing high quality credit investments across Asia Pacific and delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns for our contributors and beneficiaries,” Chan added.
In FY21, Emeritus claimed to reach learners in more than 80 countries and offered programs through partnerships with more than 50 of the world’s top universities. In 2021, Emeritus acquired Silicon Valley-based iD Tech, the world leader in youth STEM education, which marked Emeritus' expansion into the K12 space.