Eruditus becomes edtech unicorn with funds from Accel, Softbank

Mumbai headquartered Eruditus, which operates an eponymous upskilling platform, has been valued at $3.2 billion in a Series E round of funding led by Accel and SoftBank.   

The $650 million (Rs 4830.11 crore) round, which had a mix of primary and secondary component, has seen the valuation of the company quadruple form its previous round of fundraise in August 2020, said a statement issued by the company.  

In June, TechCircle had reported that Eruditus was in talks with SoftBank to raise a primary round of $300 million.  

The Series E round also saw participation from returning investors Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia India, Bertelsmann, Prosus and Leeds Illuminate. This also marks Accel’s single largest investment in the ed-tech space.  

Eruditus will use the funds to develop new courses with university partners, add new industry verticals, expand the company’s business serving government and enterprises and double down on geographical expansion. The company also plans on funding acquisitions with the capital. 

In May Eruditus acquired Silicon Valley based STEM education solutions provider, iD Tech in a $200 million all cash transaction. The acquisition added K12 sector to the Emeritus platform operated by the company.  

“Eruditus’ mission is to make high quality education accessible and affordable to learners across the world,” said Ashwin Damera, cofounder and CEO in the statement. He further added, “With this fundraise, we’re excited to scale our unique business model, continue to deliver strong learning outcomes, and grow our global impact at a rapid rate.” 

Founded in 2010 by Harvard Business School graduate Ashwin Damera and INSEAD alumnus Chaitanya Kalipatnapu, the platform offers over 250 professional learning programs developed in partnership with 50 top tier universities, said the statement. 

“The unbundling of higher education and continued learning has only just started. We have known Ashwin and the team at Eruditus for a number of years and have always been impressed by their approach and execution,” said Anand Daniel, partner at Accel in the statement. 

The company has seen a 100% year-on-year growth, and is predicted to record $500 million in booking for the ongoing year, said the statement. 

Eruditus is the second unicorn in the upskilling and professional courses space in addition to upGrad which recently closed its $185 million funding round.