Hardeep Singh
upGrad, a Singapore-based educational technology company, announced on Monday that it has raised $120 million from Temasek, a Singapore-based investment group. The new funds will be used for foreign growth and investments.
Screwvala is a co-founder of upGrad, one of India’s leading online education firms, focusing on secondary ed and specialisation. Digital Marketing, Data Analytics, Digital Technology Management, Data-Driven Management, and Product Management are some of their key areas of focus. MICA is one of the colleges with which upGrad has partnered.
This is the edtech company’s first foreign investment. It is associated with the delivery of higher education. UpGrad, based in Mumbai, has broken even, posting sales of Rs1,200 crore for the fiscal year 2020-21. The six-year-old company currently plans to grow its sales to $2 billion in sales by 2026.
“We welcome Temasek in our mission to power career success for each and every member of the global workforce as their trusted LifeLongLearning partner and drive meaningful career outcomes,” upGrad co-founder Ronnie Screwvala said. With the COVID-19 pandemic acting as an inflexion point, the edtech room has also seen rapid development internationally.
upGrad faces tough competition
Although a host of companies have raised new money from investors, the market is consolidating, with deals such as Unacademy purchasing PrepLadder for USD 50 million, Byju’s purchasing WhiteHat Jr for USD 300 million, and Aakash Educational Services purchasing Aakash Educational Services for approximately USD 1 billion.
The Gate Academy (TGA) and Rekrut India were both purchased by upGrad last year.In March 2020, upGrad saw a 50% increase in the number of students on the website. Before March of this year, upGrad received 2,500 inquiries a day, as per Mayank Kumar, the company’s Ch of this year, upGrad celebrated 1,000 active work placements in a single month through Rekrut India, a joint venture of upGrad.
UpGrad purchased the leading recruiting and staffing solutions firm in December 2020, and in a brief span of time, the two elements merged and delivered 2500 active job transfers in the last quarter – Q4 (January-February-March) at an average wage increase of 50%.
With educators placed at large Indian and international companies such as Deloitte, Publicis Media, Ugam Solutions, Citiustech, Airtel Payments Bank, NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India), Flipkart, HDFC Life, Naukri, Ernst & Young, Ola, and others, the quarter has also seen the largest rise of 400 per cent, with one student earning INR 73 L.
Following a record-breaking fifth, upGrad and Rekrut India soon aim to complete 20,000 job changes, solidifying their status as being one of the ‘s biggest career superpower for working professionals.
The edtech chief recently announced a collaboration with EyeWay Vision Ltd, an Israeli firm, to create and offer yet another virtual augmented reality (AR) to its students. This will further solidify upGrad’s status as a global higher education technology pioneer based in India.
upGrad rises being the most valuable and powerful edtech company in recent years. upGrad aims to raise its features likely to get more benefits to the students. For more updates stay tuned. Do follow us for more exciting startup news from our website. EO and Founder. Today, this increased by 50% to 3,800 inquiries a day.
