Bangalore-based online professional certification platform Simplilearn has concluded $15 Mn Series C round of funding led by Mayfield Fund, with existing investors Kalaari Capital and Helion Venture Partners also participating in the round. Simplilearn has raised a total of $27 Mn from investors so far, previously it had raised $10 Mn in Series B funding from Helion Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital in 2013. Prior to this, Kalaari had invested an undisclosed amount in 2012.
The six-year-old startup, launched by Krishna Kumar, offers a multitude of training and IT certifications in areas like advanced cloud computing and six sigma, through a combination of online classes and in-person workshops. The company offers over 200 courses through its network of over 2,000 qualified trainers.
As per the founder, Simplilearn has already trained 4 lakh people in the last five years, it is training about 20,000 new users every month of which 60% are from US. Simplilearn is also setting up a studio in the US to create video content
The company will be using the funds raised in this round to scale the business and invest in enhancing the technology platform. “Traditionally, we have been strong in certifications related to project management, ScrumMaster, big data and Hadoop. We will invest in diversifying our courseware that would include digital marketing,” said Krishna Kumar.
Vishal Dixit, partner at Mayfield Fund’s advisor, MF Advisors, said, “Simplilearn is a company with a strong management team and we believe it offers young professionals a powerful commercial and social proposition. There is an increasing acceptance for virtual learning and Simplilearn has a differentiated play with a sharp focus on offering IT training and certification.”
Recent deals in this space include IDG Ventures India Fund II and Kalaari Capital Partners II investing INR 18 Cr. in Bangalore-based Aurus Networks, Hyderabad based SkillPro raising INR 18.3 Cr. from the National Skill Development Corporation in debt funding, Unitus Seed Fund, investing in two education startups i.e. Curiositi and Cue Learn.
There have been few acquisitions in this space as well which includes Toppr acquiring EasyPrep and Embibe acquiring 100Marks.
According to Global Information Inc., the Global Market for eLearning is set to reach $169 Bn by 2018.
