Education technology startup Unacademy has raised a $110-million Series E round from new investors Facebook and General Atlantic, besides Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners, Steadview Capital and Blume Ventures. Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy and Udaan co-founder Sujeet Kumar also participated in the round.
The latest funding round values the startup at over $500 million, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Mint had reported on 10 December that Unacademy was in talks to raise $100 million from investors led by General Atlantic.
The Bengaluru-based startup will use the funds to introduce more test preparation and exam categories, acquire more educators, create better content and improve the product.
Through its Series E round, Unacademy provided exits to some of its angel investors, the company said in a statement.
Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and chief executive, Unacademy, said: “Our goal from day one has been to democratize education and make quality education accessible to everyone. We do that by bringing the best educators and content on our platform and ensuring it is accessible to everyone across the country. We are seeing great learning outcomes through our subscription where learners can take live classes by these educators. We now have more than 90,000 active subscribers…Our goal is to become not just the largest educational organisation, but the largest consumer internet story out of India.”
Unacademy was founded in 2015 by Munjal, Roman Saini and Hemesh Singh. It started as a platform for educators and learners, with educators creating educational videos and offering live interactive classes, and learners having access to more than 30 exam categories. Unacademy now has more than one million videos and over 10,000 educators on its platform. The company said 70% of its users are from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India.
In 2019, Unacademy had launched its subscription for various examinations, which provide learners access to top educators and structured learning.
Ajit Mohan, vice president and managing director, Facebook India, said: “Facebook is an ally for India’s economic growth and social development, and we are excited about India and its rapidly rising internet ecosystem. With this investment in Unacademy, we are reinforcing our commitment to the Indian startup ecosystem, as well as investing in a company that is transforming learning in India. We love that the company is fundamentally democratizing education and driving innovation in new learning models.”
Shantanu Rastogi, Managing Director, General Atlantic, said, “Unacademy’s live classes platform disrupts and democratizes the learning process in an unmatched manner, with the more than 18 million students who engage with the company’s content underscoring its quality. Multilingual classes, practice tests, peer discussions and comprehensive coverage of over 30 exam categories is also leading to accelerated adoption of the company’s subscription plan, Unacademy Plus.”
