Eruditus In Talks To Raise $150 Mn At $2.3 Bn Valuation

Amid plans of reverse flipping to India ahead of its potential IPO, edtech unicorn Eruditus is reportedly in advanced talks to raise $150 Mn in a fresh funding round led by Texas-based private equity firm TPG at a likely valuation of $2.3 Bn.

The potential new valuation would be 28% lower than its previous valuation of $3.2 Bn in August 2021, when the company that offers upskilling courses to professionals joined the unicorn club after raising $650 Mn from a clutch of investors, including Accel and SoftBank Vision Fund II.

However, this valuation hinges on Eruditus meeting certain performance targets, failing which the Indian edtech juggernaut will see its market capitalization shrink to $1.8 Bn, TechCrunch reported, citing sources.

If and when the funding comes through, it would also mark the first equity infusion in Eruditus since August 2021. 

Founded by Chaitanya Kalipatnapu and Ashwin Damera in 2010, Eruditus offers online courses from prestigious global business schools such as Columbia, MIT, London Business School, Harvard Business School on subjects like artificial intelligence, data science and data coding.

Besides, the Mumbai-based startup also offers courses from top Indian institutions such as IIT Kozhikode and IIM Lucknow, among others.

Eruditus competes with the likes of BYJU’S, upGrad and NYSE-listed Coursera. 

The startup, which counts marquee investors such as SoftBank, Accel and Peak XV and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board among its backers, had raised more than $1.16 Bn in funding as of March 2022, according to Inc42 data.

The potential $150 Mn investment in Eruditus comes at a time when the startup is reportedly planning to shift its domicile to India from Singapore. Reports suggest that Eruditus is mulling a reverse flip as it seeks to list on Indian bourses likely within the next two years.

And Eruditus is not the only Indian startup seeking a desh wapsi. While fintech giants such as PhonePe and Groww have already reverse flipped to India, the likes of Zepto, Razorpay, and Flipkart are also mulling such a move.

Most recently, Pine Labs got the nod from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to shift its base back to India.

Eruditus narrowed its net loss to INR 1,049 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 2,680 Cr in the preceding fiscal year.

However, it reported a strong growth in its gross revenue in the reported quarter, which stood at INR 3,320 Cr in FY23, up 75% from INR 1,900 Cr in FY22.