Edtech Startup Sunstone Eduversity Raises $28 Mn From WestBridge, Saama Capital

Delhi NCR-based edtech startup Sunstone Eduversity has raised $28 Mn in a Series B funding round led by WestBridge Capital with participation from existing investors Saama Capital and Alteria Capital.

PeopleStrong’s Pankaj Bansal also invested in the startup via his work-focussed Work10m fund.

The funds will be used to invest in tech assets, building a network of colleges across multiple cities, and hiring across various functions.

Founded in 2015 by Ashish Munjal and Piyush Nangru, Sunstone Eduversity runs a business school (B-School) that primarily focuses on equipping students with expertise to tackle everyday business problems across verticals. The startup’s pay-after-placement model is based on partnership with 24 campuses across 18 cities.

It offers MBA programs across various functions, with upcoming courses in other graduation and post-graduation fields — BBA, BCA, B.Com, BSc, MCA, and Online MBA. With this, the startup plans to enrol 25K+ students across 35 cities by the end of 2022.

Sunstone Eduversity also has corporate tie-ups to develop specialisations such as BFSI, logistics, sales management, digital marketing and others. It claims to have provided a 150% placement rate for its 2019-21 MBA batch where 252 students received 380 job offers.

Sunstone Eduversity has previously raised INR 24 Cr (approx $3.2 Mn) in its Series A round in 2020. Before that, in 2019, the B-School edtech raised INR 11.35 Cr (approx $1.5 Mn) in seed funding led by Prime Venture Partners.

In Q3 2021 alone, Indian edtech startups have recorded $1.4 Bn in funding across 44 deals, Inc42 Plus data shows. The edtech sector in India is also currently home to five unicorns namely, BYJU’s, Unacademy, UpGrad, Eruditus and Vedantu. Vedantu was the latest startup to cross a valuation of $1 Bn, as it raised $100 Mn ABC World Asia, Coatue Management, Tiger Global, GGV Capital, and WestBridge.

In the placement after educating model, Unacademy’s Revel offers frontend development, backend development, and business development course along with a test, requiring students to build a mini-app, post which it claims to have a 100% placement rate. Unacademy recently pumped $20 Mn in Relevel to enhance the platform.

Ronnie Screwalla’s UpGrad also offers higher education courses in collaboration with various universities. It claims to have a million users globally, of which 45,000 are paid learners. In 2020, UpGrad further acquired recruitment and staffing solutions company Rekrut India and Bengaluru-based coaching institute The Gate Academy (TGA) to enhance its placement verticals.

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