The Bangalore based startup company Unacademy on Wednesday announced that they have crossed the milestone of $ 1 billion after they raised $150 million in a new financing round. The company’s current valuation is around $ 1.45 billion. The Gaurav Munjal led learning application became the second company in the Indian subcontinent after Byju’s to cross the $ 1 billion mark. This made their entry into the club of unicorns.
This feat was achieved as the SoftBank group led the funding in the company’s Series F funding round. The already existing investors of Unacademy, namely Facebook, Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, and Blume Ventures also took part in the funding.
During the series E funding that ended in February this year, the company raised $ 510 million. After that, this jump in the valuation of the learning company is more than three times.
Munjal said on twitter, “Unacademy Group has raised $150M in a round led by Softbank valuing us at $1.45B post the funding. Great to have them on board as a partner in our journey,” announcing the new development in the company’s economy.
Unacademy Group has raised $150M in a round led by Softbank valuing us at $1.45B post the funding. Great to have them onboard as a partner in our journey.
Our existing investors General Atlantic, Sequoia India, Nexus, Facebook and Blume also participated in the round.
— Gaurav Munjal (@gauravmunjal) September 2, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic that forced the government to put the country into a state of lockdown since March has surged the importance of these online learning platforms. Unacademy’s demand during this time had gone up by a few multiple times. Even as the lockdown is removed, schools and colleges still remain shut seeing the dependency of the students on these teaching applications remain the same.
Therefore, the year 2020 has been a highlight for most of the online teaching companies. Unacademy has taken over three notable startups namely PrepLadder, Mastree, and CodeChef during the span of this year. The company also launched a new application Graphy with the help of a separate founding team. PrepLadder offers courses aimed at medical students and was acquired for $ 50 million by the company in July.
Other online-based applications have also covered some ground this year. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook and his wife’s Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative backed Eruditus in a $ 113 million fundraiser. Toppr, another online learning application that focuses on products and services of K-12 students also raised $ 46 million. Bangalore based firm Vedantu saw an infusion of $ 100 million in funds in recent times also. Byju’s also acquired WhiteHat Jr, the company that teaches coding to children. The deal was passed for $ 300 million.
Byju’s also boasts of being the most valued ed-tech startup in the world. The Sequoia Capital India backed company’s recent valuation as reported by TechCrunch stands at $ 10.5 billion.
Gaurav Munjal, the co-founder of Unacademy that is flying into uncharted skies also tweeted, “Our goal always has been to democratize knowledge and make it more affordable and accessible by getting the best experts of the world help everyone achieve their goals. We are just getting started.”
The main advantage that the company has is its vast range of services. The company which specializes in preparing students for their competitive examinations also helps students pursuing graduate-level courses. However, the company’s main feature which is to teach students for SSC, Railways, and other union and state government jobs coupled with the best faculty of the country can be pointed out for the main reason for its growth. The application of the company lets students watch live classes from educators and later engage in sessions to review topics in more detail.
In recent weeks Unacademy also became the platform for various interview/seminar sessions of coveted individuals on an array of topics.
The application has both free and premium subscription-based features. The premium subscription lets students attend live classes of the best educators of the country. Unacademy also marks 30 million registered users and has more than 350,000 paying subscribers. On the other hand, their rival Byju’s has 50 million registered users across the country of which 3.5 million are paid.