Tiger Global, Dragoneer Pump Fresh Funds in Unacademy, Valuation Jumps to $2 Bn The fresh capital has knocked up the company's valuation by almost 45 per cent since it entered the coveted unicorn club in September after raising USD 150 million funding led by Softbank at a valuation of USD 1.45 billion.
By Shipra Singh
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Education technology startup Unacademy said on Wednesday it has raised an undisclosed amount from Tiger Global and Dragoneer Investment Group.
The fresh capital has knocked up the company's valuation at USD 2 billion, an almost 45 per cent jump since it entered the coveted unicorn club in September after raising USD 150 million funding led by Softbank at a valuation of USD 1.45 billion.
Also Read: India Gets Its Second Edtech Unicorn As Unacademy Joins The Prestigious Club
"Today, I'm delighted to welcome Tiger Global and Dragoneer as our partners in the journey. They are both marquee global investors with a history of partnering with innovative companies that are making an impact on people's lives," said Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and CEO, Unacademy.
"Our mission from Day One has been to democratise education and make it more affordable and accessible. We have consistently built the most iconic products that deliver high quality education to everyone."
The Bengaluru-based company has been on a fundraising spree this year with its valuation increased fourfold in the last eight months. It had raised USD 110 million funding led Facebook and General Atlantic in February this year.
In fact, the edtech industry as a whole has witnessed massive VC investment inflow this year as Covid-19 proved to be a watershed moment for it because of the heightened demand for online learning on the back of schools and other educational institutes shut.
Byju's, highest valued edtech startup in India, has raised a total of USD 1,122 million this year in five tranches. Several news reports suggest that it is in talks with BlackRock and T. Rowe to raise fresh USD 200 million that will kick its valuation to USD 12 billion.
Similarly, Vedantu and Toppr, two of the other popular edtech startups in the country have raised USD 100 million and USD 46 million, respectively, while the former is reported to be in talks to raise fresh USD 100 million.
"The opportunity to improve lives through online education is enormous because of its sheer accessibility," said Scott Shleifer, Partner, Tiger Global, commenting on the investment made in Unacademy. "The Unacademy team has innovated rapidly to build a leading platform that is taking education to the farthest corners of India. We are very excited to partner with Unacademy and look forward to seeing it scale further."
Unacademy was founded by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini and Hemesh Singh in 2015 and it claims to have over 47,000 educators and 40 million learners on its platform. Further, it said over 1.5 lakh live classes are conducted on the platform each month.
The company has also made several acquisitions this year, including UPSC preparation startup Coursavy, Prepladder, which is focused on medical courses, and Creatryx that offers preparation courses for various competitive exams for government jobs.
Also Read: Unacademy Acquires PrepLadder To Strengthen Market Dominance
Also Read: Unacademy Acquires UPSC Preparing Startup Coursavy
