upGrad raises $210 million in a round led by ETS Global, Bodhi Tree

Updated on: 8 August 2022 5:14 pm

Existing investors like Elevation Capital, Matrix Partners, Whiteboard Capital, and GTM Ventures also participated in the financing round

Dezerv raises $20 million in Series A funding round led by Accel Photo: Existing investors like Elevation Capital, Matrix Partners, Whiteboard Capital, and GTM Ventures also participated in the financing round

Edtech unicorn upGrad has raised $210 million in a funding round at a valuation of $2.25 billion. ETS Global led the investment round along with Uday Shankar, and James Murdoch backed Bodhi Tree.

Existing investors like Temasek, International Finance Corporation and IIFL also participated in the round along with the family offices of Bharti Airtel, Narotam Sekhsaria of Ambuja Cements and ACC, and Artisan Investments of Arcelor Mittal's Executive Chairman, Lakshmi Mittal.

upGrad's founders, Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli, also invested $12.5 million in this round to maintain their ownership of over 50 per cent of the company. In a statement, the edtech said it would utilise the capital to add 2,800 people to its 4,800-strong workforce within three months. It would include 170 faculty members, 1,600 teachers and over 5,000 contractual coaches.

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"There is a massive re-skilling revolution taking place around the world and over the last 5 years, our 4,800 colleagues have worked hard, and smart to be at the epicentre of taking advantage of this, not just in India but around the world," Ronnie Screwvala and Mayank Kumar said in a joint statement.

"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 LifeLongLearning partner for millions in the coming years," the founders added.

According to the unicorn, its programme completion rate is over 80 per cent. It gets 40 per cent of its total revenue from repeats and referrals year on year.

The company also reasserted that it is on track to record annual gross revenue (AGV) of $400 to $500 million during FY 2022-23. Of this, it will realise 45 per cent of revenue from its own-branded online courses and programmes.

A week ago, upGrad acquired test-preparation startup Exampur, marking its fifth acquisition this year. Before this, the company acquired B2B edtech startup Harappa Education for $38 million in July. Its 100 per cent subsidiary, Rekrut, also acquired WOLVES India, a recruitment and staffing company, in the same month.