EdTech firm upGrad raises $185 mn, enters unicorn club

Online higher education portal upGrad has made it to the unicorn list with latest funding of $185 million at a market valuation of $1.2 billion. The Ronnie Screwvala-headed edtech company raised funds from the Singapore-based Temasek, World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) and IIFL in the last 60 days. The Mumbai-based edtech firm had raised $120 million from Temasek.

"We are very focused on our path to being in the top 3-5 companies globally in edtech and serving the 1 billion workforce across the age group of 18-60. We are pleased with the investor interest ever since we opened up for a fundraise, and had our maiden raise from Temasek, followed by IFC and IIFL in the last 60 days," chairperson and co-founder of upGrad Ronnie Screwvala said.

He further added that they will announce more information on mergers and acquisitions and unlocking value. “We will announce further updates on M&As, and unlocking value as they unfold. Yes, the last value was at $1.2 billion but as I keep saying, we are not a fan of the tag name, unicorn. For us, it is only a means to a much larger goal,” Screwvala said.

The edtech firm aims to cross $500 million annual revenue run rate by March 2022 and raise $400 million at a $4 billion valuation. upGrad has set aside an amount of $250 million for mergers and acquisitions over the next 7-9 months.

upGrad acquired the online upskilling platform KnowledgeHut for an undisclosed sum. KnowledgeHut expects to cross Rs 300 crore in revenue next year. 65 per cent of this revenue will be from countries in South-East Asia, Middle East and North America. upGrad was founded in 2015 by Phalgun Kompalli, Mayank Kumar and Ronnie Screwvala. India has total 53 unicorns with a tentative valuation of Rs 1.4 lakh crore currently.

Edited by Mehak Agarwal; with IANS inputs

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