Blackstone-Backed Simplilearn Secures $45 Mn From GSV Ventures, Others

Edtech startup Simplilearn has raised $45 Mn in a fresh funding round led by venture capital firm GSV Ventures.

Clal Insurance and ADQ’s venture platform DisruptAD have also participated in the funding round. 

Simplilearn will use the funding to grow its business across the globe. 

Founded in 2010 by Krishna Kumar, Simplilearn offers online upskilling courses in varied disciplines including cyber security, cloud computing, project management and data science, among others to students and working professionals. 

Simplilearn also offers courses in association with educational institutions and global organisations including IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and KPMG, to name a few. 

“Simplilearn is a unique player in the digital skilling space with premium content and partnerships with various marquee universities and enterprises. Given the company’s promising growth trajectory over the past years, we are excited to partner with Blackstone and Krishna to accelerate growth,” said Deborah H. Quazzo, managing partner of GSV Ventures.

The San Francisco and India-based edtech major claims to have onboarded 1.2 Lakh paid B2C students and more than 1 Lakh enterprise learners on its platform. Besides, it asserts that it onboards an additional 2 Mn+ unpaid learners on its platform every year.

In September 2021, Kalaari Capital exited Simplilearn after receiving nearly 14x return. Prior to that, private equity company Blackstone acquired about 60% stake in the edtech major for $250 Mn in July last year.

“We are excited to partner with GSV Ventures, a globally recognized investor with a strong track record in the education sector, along with a strong set of co-investors in Clal Insurance and DisruptAD. This funding came at a time when the industry is going through turmoil and stands as a testimony to our steady, profitable growth,” said Krishna Kumar, founder and CEO of Simplilearn.

In FY22, the edtech major reported a 26X rise in its net losses to INR 149.9 Cr against INR 5.6 Cr losses incurred in the previous fiscal year.

In the edtech sector, it competes with the likes of Scaler Academy, Udemy, Unacademy and  Vedantu, among others. 

The funding has come at a time when India’s edtech space is striving hard for survival. Funding crunch, opening of colleges and schools along with market inflation have severely impacted the edtech sector. Owing to this, edtech giants such as BJYU’S, Unacademy and Vedantu have sacked a good number of employees and also pivoted to a hybrid model thereby, entering the offline education sector. 

Recently, edtech startup Practically sacked some of its employees owing to a liquidity crunch since its last funding round did not materialise.

So far, 7.5k+ employees have been sacked by edtech startups in 2022, according to an Inc42 analysis. Meanwhile, Udayy, Crejo.Fun, Lido Learning, Qin1 and SuperLearn are some of the edtech startups that have closed their shutters permanently.