UpGrad raises $185 million from Temasek, IFC; Enters unicorn club

In April, UpGrad had raised $120 million from Singapore-based Temasek.

On Monday, Bengaluru-based online higher education company, UpGrad, has achieved unicorn status after its announced that it closed an amount of $185 million in total in a new funding round that valued it at $1.2 billion.

The startup raised fresh funds from Singapore’s Temasek, World Bank’s sister organization IFC (International Finance Corporation) and IIFL (India Infoline).

Advertisement

UpGrad’s co-founder and chairperson, Ronnie Screwvala, said in a statement, “We are very focused on our path to being in the top three-five companies globally in edtech and serving the one billion workforces across the age group of 18-60. We are pleased with the investor interest ever since we opened up for a fundraiser, and had our maiden raise from Temasek, followed by IFC and IIFL in the last 60 days.”

The CEO, who has produced blockbuster Bollywood films in the past, continued saying that the company would announce further updates on M&A (mergers and acquisitions) and unlock the value they unfold. He said that they were “not a fan of the tag name unicorn” and for them, it was only a path to a much larger goal. In the year 2013, Screwvala had sold his film production giant to Disney at an enterprise valuation of $1.4 billion.

According to estimates by the industry, a total of 53 unicorns are present in India with a tentative valuation of ₹1.4 lakh crore.