Mumbai-based education technology (edtech) startup Eruditus announced on Thursday that it has raised $650 million in its latest round of funding, led by Accel Partners and SoftBank Vision Fund II. The firm is now valued at $3.2 billion. The ten-year-old startup's valuation has quadrupled from about $700 million last year. Eruditus is the 23rd startup to join the unicorn club in 2021.
Eruditus' latest financing round included both primary and secondary transactions. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board also participated in the latest round of funding.
The education technology startup has stated that it will use the funds raised to develop more courses and build new products. "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," said Eruditus co-founder and CEO Ashwin Damera. In the latest round of funding, Damera sold stake worth $100 million.
Eruditus works with top international universities and offers more than 100 executive-level courses to students spread across 80 nations. Some of the top institutes that Eruditus is working with are MIT, Harvard, Columbia, Cambridge, INSEAD, Wharton, UC Berkeley, IITs, IIMs and NUS. The price of these executive-level courses level courses can range from $5,000 to $40,000.
The edtech firm is the fourth of its kind after Byju's, Unacademy and UpGrad to become a unicorn. Eruditus' investor SoftBank also has investments in Unacademy.
The firm claims that 35 per cent of its users are from the US while 20% are from India. The remaining come from Latin America, Europe and other areas.
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