At a time when Indian edtech companies are having a tough time finding investors, executive education-focused startup Eruditus has amassed $150 million in its Series F funding round led by private equity firm TPG’s The Rise Fund, per an announcement on Friday.
The financing, which has come after a gap of nearly two-and-a-half years, also saw participation from existing investors SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Leeds Illuminate, Accel, CPP Investments, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the edtech unicorn said in a statement.
The Mumbai-headquartered company last raised $350 million in debt financing from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) in March 2022.
As part of The Rise Fund’s investment, TPG’s Simit Batra will join Eruditus’s board of directors.
Eruditus will use the fresh capital to invest in artificial intelligence technology, expanding the business serving governments and enterprises, and deepen its investments in the India and APAC regions, the statement added.
The company will also eye acquisitions and investments, which have historically contributed to impressive topline growth and expansion in strategic markets, it said.
“Eruditus is expanding access to new education opportunities and giving professionals at all stages of their careers the skills they need to advance and succeed in today’s rapidly changing workplace. We look forward to working with Eruditus to further enhance the platform and scale the business globally,” said Steve Ellis, a managing partner of The Rise Funds.
Established in 2010 by Chaitanya Kalipatnapu and Damera, Eruditus offers management programmes and short courses in addition to an online curriculum. It became the sixth Indian startup to bag the unicorn tag in August 2021 after securing $650 million in a Series E funding round led by Accel US and SoftBank Vision Fund II at a $3.2-billion valuation.
The edtech platform offers thousands of online courses from more than 80 universities, including Harvard, on topics such as artificial intelligence, data science, and software coding, in competition with NYSE-listed Coursera.
The Singapore-domiciled company’s losses narrowed to $127.2 million in the year ended June 30, 2023, from $386.8 million in the preceding year. Revenue of the company increased 65% to $405.2 million during the year from $245.3 million in the year-ago period.
Eruditus is reportedly also planning to shift its domicile from Singapore to India for a stock market listing.
