Watch: Udemy India and APAC MD Irwin Anand on riding the edtech wave, expansion plans

The year 2020 has been a gamechanger for edtech marketplace Udemy, which offers short upskilling and hobby courses across several subjects.

The San Francisco, California-based company saw its user base grow 200% during the months of the pandemic, with its global active userbase touching 35 million, while it managed to acquire 5 million customers in its second largest market India. 

The startup, which offers consumer-focused and curated corporate focused upskilling courses, saw its B2B offering -- Udemy for Business -- touch $100 million in annual recurring revenue in October 2020, within five years launch. Following this, in November, the company raised $50 million at a pre-money valuation of $3.25 billion in a Series F round led by Learn Capital. 

In an interview with TechCircle, Irwin Anand, MD, Udemy India and APAC charts the company’s growth plans in India and the Asia Pacific region, focusing on both consumer and corporate courses. He also spoke about how the company’s business grew during the pandemic.  

Globally, according to the company, 80% of the Fortune 100 companies have worked with Udemy for employee upkilling.

 Its corporate clientele includes Unilever, Eventbrite, PayPal, Apple, Survey Monkey, The World Bank, Okta, Unicef, Gamestop, and Box trust. 

In 2020, Udemy for Business sustained a high customer retention rate while achieving a series of notable customer wins like the United States Air Force, Fandom, TIBCO Software, The Walt Disney Corp, Tata Inc., NTT, and Toyota Motors. Customers in India and APAC include Samsung Electronics, Vodafone, Accenture Japan, Toshiba Digital Solutions, Tech Mahindra, and PWC Japan, among others.