India’s UpGrad enters unicorn club with $185 million fundraise

UpGrad, a Bangalore-based startup that specializes in higher education and upskilling courses, said on Monday it has raised $185 million in a new financing round that valued it at $1.2 billion.

Singapore’s Temasek, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, and IIFL financed the new round, first tranche of it — abgout $120 million — was completed in April at over $600 million valuation.

“We are pleased with the investor interest ever since we opened up for fundraise, and had our maiden raise from Temasek, followed by IFC and IIFL in the last 60 days,” said Ronnie Screwvala, cofounder and chairperson of upGrad.

Six-year-old UpGrad, which in recent months has pushed for expansion in international markets, offers over 100 courses in data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, blockchain, finance, programming, and law in collaboration with universities such as Michigan State University, the IIT Madras and IIT Delhi, and Swiss School of Business Management, Geneva.

More than a million users from over four dozen nations have accessed the platform’s courses, the startup said. On its website, UpGrad says it has over 62,000 paid students.

Screwvala, who pioneered the cable television business in the South Asian market and also produced several Bollywood blockbusters, said on Monday that the startup will deploy the fresh funds to explore several merger and acquisition opportunities. Screwvala sold his entertainment conglomerate UTV to Disney at an enterprise valuation of $1.4 billion in 2013.

UpGrad is the 21st Indian startup to become a unicorn this year, up from 11 last year. In recent quarters, high-profile investors such as Tiger Global, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Falcon Edge, and Temasek have doubled down on their bets in India.