[Funding alert] Udemy raises $50M from leading global edtech and growth funds

Edtech platform Udemy on Thursday said it has raised $50 million (about Rs 371.2 crore) from global edtech and growth funds, including Learn Capital.

The company's value stands at $3.25 billion pre-money.

Pre-money valuation refers to the value of a company without including external funding or the latest round of funding.

"The funds raised from leading global edtech and growth funds, including Learn Capital, will enable the company to continue to grow its consumer and business product offerings to serve the world's learners, organisations, and instructors," a statement said.

Udemy CEO Gregg Coccari said this year upended everything about how one lives and works, and people everywhere turned to online learning to help them meet new challenges.

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"We are perfectly positioned to meet these demands and help drive success for individuals, businesses, and governments," he added.

As countries enacted stay-at-home advisories and national closures, course enrolments across the entire Udemy marketplace platform increased more than 425 percent, consumption across Udemy for Business surged 90 percent, and the company saw a 55 percent increase in course creation by instructors.

To date, the company has seen over 400 million course enrolments globally.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Udemy has offices in Denver, Brazil, India, Ireland, and Turkey. Its investors include Insight Partners, Learn Capital, Prosus, Norwest Venture Partners, Stripes, and Benesse Holdings.

Currently, 35 million students globally learn from 57,000 instructors who collectively teach over 1,30,000 courses via Udemy.

"Our latest investment underscores our continued confidence in the company. We believe Udemy has the right platform and business architecture to dramatically extend its growth as individuals and companies recognise the power of lifelong learning to drive personal and corporate performance," Rob Hutter, Managing Partner at Learn Capital, said.

Powered by the Udemy marketplace, Udemy for Business is designed to serve the next generation of workplace learners. With subscription access to a collection of 7,000 relevant courses on the most in-demand skills, customers can upskill their workforces and harness learning to drive business performance.

In October, the company announced that Udemy for Business has surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) with customers like The Walt Disney Corporation, Apple, UNICEF, PayPal, Accenture, Samsung, Unilever, Instacart, SurveyMonkey, Okta, and others.

Goldman Sachs served as sole placement agent in the latest round.