Upskilling unicorn upGrad said it has appointed Anuj Vishwakarma as the president - online higher-ed (education) programs.
In his new role, Vishwakarma will be responsible for building the online higher-ed vertical for creating a long-term strategic moat and also implementing growth best practices for scaling the business.
Vishwakarma has over 10 years of experience building high-growth consumer businesses in the fintech, online retail, and offline retail sectors. Before upGrad, he drove growth for leading consumer internet players like Myntra, Paytm and Ola. He has also led assignments at Ola as revenue and growth head and at Paytm as growth head for the travel business.
"We operate in a golden era where the demand for online higher education will continue to propel and therefore, we need a solution-focused leader who comes with strong hands-on skills. Anuj, for his domain inclination, is best suited to perform in-depth market research and consumer insights to spearhead our vertical growth,” said Mayank Kumar, co-founder, and managing director of upGrad.
Vishwakarma will operate from upGrad’s Bengaluru office and will also collaborate with the multiple teams across upGrad divisions to scale their program vertical, the company stated.
Vishwakarma is an IIM Bangalore and a National Institute of Technology (NIT) Bhopal alumnus.
"I am humbled to be a part of this dynamic leadership team who knows no limits. upGrad’s vision is synergistic and I look forward to utilizing my domain expertise for building a stronger business foundation for driving career outcomes of our potential learners. This will help me contribute towards strengthening the brand's reputation across a wider audience,” Vishwakarma said in a statement.
Recently, upGrad’s Harappa, an online learning platform focused on behavioural, social and cognitive skilling, made three appointments to fuel its business growth strategy. The New Delhi-based company, which was bought by upskilling firm upGrad this year, appointed Seema Chowdhry as Chief Learning Officer, Rohit Madhok as Chief Technology Officer and Nigel Patrick Eccleston as Vice President, Consumer Product.
In August, upGrad secured $210 million in a round of funding from a clutch of investors including ETS Global, Bodhi Tree (a JV of James Murdoch and Uday Shankar) and Singapore's Kaizen Management Advisors Pvt. Ltd.
UpGrad Education Pvt. Ltd, which runs the upGrad platform, was founded in 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli. This year, the company has made five acquisitions so far, including Exampur, taking the total tally to ten deals till date.
Earlier this year, upGrad, appointed edtech unicorn Eruditus Education’s Director of Inside Sales Vikram Vyas as its Vice President-Growth, International Sales.