upGrad Enters Unicorn Club With $185 Mn Fundraise

Mumbai-based edtech startup upGrad has entered the unicorn club after raising a total of $185 Mn from Temasek, IFC (International Finance Corporation, a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group), and IIFL in last 60 days at valuation of $1.2 Bn. upGrad has now become the third edtech startup to become a unicorn and 20th Indian startup to enter unicorn club in 2021. 

Ronnie Screwvala, chairperson and cofounder of upGrad said that the edtech startup will  announce further updates on merger and acquisition in the coming days. 

Founded by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, Phalgun Kompalli and Ravijot Chugh, upGrad 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 acquired recruitment and staffing solutions company Rekrut India and Bengaluru-based coaching institute The Gate Academy (TGA). In August last year, the company raised INR 50 Cr debt from IIFL Income Opportunities Fund. In April this year, the edtech startup raised $40 Mn from IFC at $850 Mn valuation. Last week, the edtech startup acquired Bengaluru-based KnowledgeHut to venture into short-term skilling courses.

upGrad’s roster of leading global universities includes Duke Corporate Education (US), Michigan State University (US), Liverpool John Moores University (UK), Deakin Business School (Australia), Swiss School of Business Management, (Geneva), IIT Madras (India), among others. upGrad’s alumni base is employed by Gojek, Paytm, Gartner, Flipkart (Walmart-acquired), Accenture, and E&Y, the company claims.

Screwvala had earlier claimed that while upGrad’s FY20 revenue run rate was INR 230 Cr, the FY21 numbers have been much better with a monthly revenue run rate of INR 100 Cr.