Soft Bank Invests $150 Million in Ed-tech Giant Unacademy, Valuation Jumps to $1.45 Billion
Ed-tech start-up Unacademy has booked a spot in the unicorn club on Wednesday with $150 million in a funding round led by Japan’s Softbank at a startling valuation of $1.45 billion. Existing investors Facebook, Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners and, Blume Ventures also participated in the round.
Unacademy has become the second Indian educational startup to surpass $1 billion in valuation and enter the Unicorn club after BYJU’s. Gaurav Munjal, the co-founder, and chief executive officer of the ed-tech tweeted “Our goal always has been to democratize knowledge and make it more affordable and accessible by getting the best experts of the world to help everyone achieve their goals.”
The Bangalore based online giant has dominated the deal flows in recent months. Unacademy plans to utilize these funds to launch new products and grow the organization. It claims to have 30 million registered users, 350,000 paying subscribers, and over 18,000 registered educators. Unacademy has helped to bridge the privilege gap by providing free classes that were only available to the rich and well connected said, educators and students. It provides free classes and has started paid subscriptions since 2019.
It conducts live classes, mock tests, and doubt clearing sessions for students preparing for competitive exams to get into a college, as well as for those who are pursuing graduate-level courses.
India’s traditional coaching centers with star teachers usually crowd hundreds and charge lumpsum fees turning students towards online educational platforms with better engagement, results, and accessibility. Earlier, the nationwide lockdown has also led many students and parents to explore the online platforms for learning. Munjal said “India needs to innovate. We need to build great products, iconic global products and so, with Unacademy becoming a unicorn, I feel more responsibility. I want to make Unacademy the largest consumer internet company from India that will be in the ed-tech space and not e-commerce.”
