Global edtech upGrad in major funding announcement

South Asia’s largest online higher education company, upGrad, has raised USD 120 million from Temasek, a global investment company headquartered in Singapore. 

upGrad plans to use a portion of the fresh capital to support further education and UK institutions whose international student population has suffered as a result of the pandemic. The edtech platform plans to help more universities accessible to the world by taking services online.

The cost-effective proposition offers partners a new revenue stream at no extra cost, with only limited faculty time required in the first year.

upGrad Co-Founders Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli said in a joint statement, “We welcome Temasek in our mission to power career success for each and every member of the global workforce as their trusted LifeLongLearning partner and drive meaningful career outcomes. This capital will further fuel our commitment towards the UK market, which will houses upGrad’s first international headquarters in London.”

Elsewhere, upGrad will be using the funding to strengthen its team, scale its global market operations, bolster its technology and product capabilities, pursue M&A opportunities, expend graduate and post-graduate degree portfolio in India, and scale up operations to achieve its USD 2 billion revenue goal by 2026.

This is the first external funding raised by the online edtech platform. Since its founding six years ago, upGrad has been 100% owned, funded, and run by its co-founders as a capital-efficient business.  

Credit Suisse acted as the exclusive financial advisor to upGrad, and Rajaram Legal acted as legal advisor.