Executive education platform Eruditus has raised $650 million as a part of its latest Series E funding round led by Accel US and Softbank Vision Fund II, the company said on Thursday.
The round valuing the startup at $3.2 billion has seen an infusion of $430 million as primary funding and another $220 million to give exits to early investors, said an individual aware of the discussions.
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board along with existing investors Prosus Ventures have largely led the secondary part infusing close to $185 million, said the individual.
With this, Bertelsmann India Investments will be exiting the startup, sources said.
The recent fundraise makes Eruditus the fourth edtech firm to enter India’s unicorn league. Earlier this week, higher learning startup upGrad entered India’s unicorn stable after completing its $185 million fundraise led by Temasek Holdings Ltd at a valuation of $1.2 billion.
Other two top unicorns in the edtech space are Naspers and Tiger Global-funded Byju’s and SoftBank-backed Unacademy, which are valued at $16.5 billion and $3.44 billion, respectively.
This also marks SoftBank’s second major investment in India’s burgeoning edtech landscape.
According to Eruditus, it will use the proceeds from the round to develop new courses in conjunction with university partners, create new products and industry verticals, double down on new geographical markets, and fund acquisitions.
Eruditus’ recent funding follows its $200 million acquisition of iD Tech, which marked the firm’s expansion into the kindergarten-12 (K-12) space.
Eruditus targets professionals with its upskilling platform and offers over 250 learning programmes. According to the company, the programmes are developed in partnership with a network of more than 50 top tier universities globally.
It has delivered courses to more than 250,000 individuals across 80 countries.
“With the rapid rate of technological disruption, continuous upskilling is necessary in 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 this space,” said Sumer Juneja, partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers.
The company offers small private online courses -- a category which also saw the entry of rival upGrad through the acquisition of KnowledgeHut.
According to the firm, it is on track to realise more than $500 million in bookings this year.
