#FundingAlert: Unacademy raises $440 million, now valued at $3.4 billion
The ed-tech industry in India continues to boom amid the raging pandemic. And, now ed-tech start-up Unacademy has successfully raised $440 million in a new funding round led by Singapore's state-run Temasek Holdings. The company's valuation reportedly stands at $3.4 billion. Unacademy's co-founder Gaurav Munjal plans to use the funds to build the business in segments such as upskilling, jobs and hiring. Here's more.
Funding round saw participation from Mirae Asset, Tiger Global
Unacademy's latest funding round saw participation from South Korea's marquee investor Mirae Asset. Existing investors including SoftBank Vision Fund, Tiger Global, and General Atlantic also participated. The Economic Times reported that the transaction is primarily an infusion of funds but the Bengaluru-based start-up is also facilitating a secondary share sale of $20 million to help one of its early investors exit.
Unacademy's valuation increased 70 percent in less than a year
Over the last year alone, Unacademy has conducted secondary share sales worth $70-80 million. Meanwhile, it was valued at $2 billion about a year ago. This figure reportedly jumped up by 70 percent with the fresh investment. This round has also helped Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal and Oyo Hotels & Homes founder Ritesh Agarwal's family office called Aroa Ventures buy a stake in Unacademy.
Unacademy wants to position itself as a broader technology firm
Notably, Munjal said that the company will use the fresh infusion of funds to expand the business into areas that make Unacademy a direct rival to established firms like Naukri.com and Microsoft-owned LinkedIn. He told ET that Unacademy "wants to position itself as a broader technology firm with multiple consumer-facing products and not be restricted to ed-tech."
Company will also push its Careers, K12 businesses
Unacademy will also launch short creator-led courses and scale its existing test preparation business alongside the K-12 (kindergarten to class 12) coaching business. Munjal indicated that the company will also push Careers, an upskilling course service it owns. For the K-12 business, Unacademy will focus on affordable live classes priced at $100 to $150 to target tier-2 and tier-3 Indian cities.
Unacademy boasts of 6 million monthly users, decent run rates
Presently, Unacademy claims that it has six million monthly active users, out of which 600,000 are paid active subscribers. Its largest test preparation business projects a $200 million run rate. Meanwhile, its K-12 business is looking at an annualized revenue run rate of $18 million.
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