Simplilearn raises $45M in funding led by GSV Ventures

Simplilearn has raised $45 million funding from a consortium led by GSV Ventures, a multi-stage venture capital firm. The round also saw participation from GSV Ventures, Clal Insurance, and DisruptAD, ADQ’s venture platform.

The company said funding will be infused to further boosting its growth across the globe.

The startup has seen significant growth in the past year and has added over 1,20,000 paid B2C learners, and more than 1,00,000 enterprise learners on its platform. It also has over two million free learners that it adds to its SkillUp platform every year. 

Deborah H Quazzo, Managing Partner, GSV Ventures, said, “With immense experience investing and working with education firms around the world, it is certain that the demand for knowledge-gain and upskilling is omnipresent. Like many other sectors, technology is disrupting education, and edtech has been a key focus area for us. Simplilearn is a unique player in the digital skilling space with premium content and partnerships with various marquee universities and enterprises.

"Given the company’s promising growth trajectory over the past years, we are excited to partner with Blackstone, Krishna Kumar, and Simplilearn to accelerate growth and contribute to building one of the world’s leading digital upskilling companies. We look forward to a promising future of continued customer-centricity, enabling professionals across the globe to become highly skilled in the digital economy,” he added.

Founded in 2010, San Francisco- and Bengaluru-based Simplilearn offers digital skilling programs for professionals, enabling learners to upskill and get certified in fast-growing digital domains.

It creates these programs in collaboration with renowned educational institutions such as Caltech CTME, IIT Roorkee, MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, Purdue University, UMass Amherst and the Isenberg School of Management, Wharton Online, and IIT Kanpur, and companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and KPMG.

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“We continue to witness the accelerated need for digitally skilled workforce across industries and Simplilearn continues to be focused on bridging the digital skill gap. Continuing on our path of mindful growth, we are grateful for how far the company has come today. The Blackstone investment last year came at an ideal time to boost our growth globally, and further strengthen our customer-centric approach," said Krishna Kumar, Founder & CEO, of Simplilearn, speaking on this round of funding. 

"Today, we are excited to partner with GSV Ventures, a globally recognised investor with a strong track record in the education sector, along with a strong set of co-investors in Clal Insurance and DisruptAD. This funding came at a time when the industry is going through turmoil and stands as a testimony to our steady, profitable growth," he added.

He said, “We believe GSV Ventures, Clal Insurance, and DisruptAD will bring value to our company given their experience, scale, and global network which will further enhance our efforts towards growing Simplilearn and sustaining our leadership, globally. We also thank our existing investor, Blackstone, for their resolute support and trust in our journey of becoming a market leader.”

(The story was updated to make a correction in the headline)