upGrad has secured $210 million in a fresh round of funding. The Founder Group made a $12.5 million investment in this round, acquiring more than 50% of the edtech business.
upGrad ambition is to strengthen its team from the present 4,800 to 7,600 in the next three months. This will also include about 170 full-time faculty, 1,600 teachers, and over 5,000 on-contract coaches and mentors.
Founded by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, and Phalgun Kompalli in 2015, upGrad spans several segments—from test prep and study abroad to undergrad degrees and campus courses in 250 universities. Its offerings include finance, law, business, and software.
Higher Edtech will be on the rise – upGrad
“Higher edtech will be on the rise for the next 4 to 5 decades. upGrad, in the last 12 months, has re-shaped itself to be the most integrated company in this space with career opportunities for the college learners and working professionals from the age of 18 to 58 and will be a lifelong learning partner for millions in the coming years. We have always been very capital efficient while growing 100% year-on-year, and hope to retain that discipline,” said upGrad Co-founders Ronnie Screwvala and Mayank Kumar in a joint statement while commenting on the fund raise.
This announcement should bring cheer to the startup eco-system, as in recent times startups like BYJU’S-owned WhiteHat Jr, Unacademy, Vedantu, Lido Learning, and others have let go of its employees significantly..
In the previous month, upGrad acquired New Delhi-based online learning institution Harappa Education, and Bengaluru-based recruitment and staffing firm WOLVES. The startup also launched five new offline experience centres in Delhi, Jabalpur, Kolhapur, Kottayam, and Patna.
The fundig was raised from ETS Global, Bodhi Tree, Singapore’s Kaizen Management Advisors, as well as Family Office of Bharti Airtel, Narotam Sekhsaria Family Office, and Lakshmi Mittal’s Artian Investments, along with existing investors Temasek, IFC, and IIFL.
