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Recently, upGrad said that it has raised $185 million at a $1.2 billion valuation. The Mumbai-headquartered edtech firm said that it is in progressive talks to advance $400 million more funding at a $4-billion valuation. It aims at concentrating on attainments as well as the extension to the abroad markets.
Singapore-based Temasek Holdings, IFC (International Finance Corporation), a sister organization of the World Bank, and member of the World Bank Group), and IIFL contributed to the present fundraise. The newest backing round also marks the first non-promoter funding of the firm with successive entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala owning more than 70 percent stake in the company after the fresh financing round.
Ronnie, said, “We are very focussed 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 to 60 years. 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.”
He adds, “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.”
For the time being, another edtech podium Vedantu for K-12 students is also reportedly scheduling to advance $100 million at a $1 billion valuation. Byju’s, which is the largest player in the industry, has so far made seven attainments this year worth over $1 billion to consolidate in the sector which has seen a 2x-3x jump in the user base subsequently the onset of the pandemic and offered low-cost alternatives to learners in the overseas geographies.
India’s edtech market is expected to touch$ 3.5 billion by 2022, a recent report by the Redseer and Omdiyar Network India stated. The report said that across paid and free unique users - in K12 and post K-12 segment have seen an increase, with the user base doubling from 45 million to 90 million.