Eruditus, an edtech startup that partners with top-tier universities across the United States, Europe, Latin America, India, and China to bring professional education to a global audience at an affordable price, announced that it has raised $113 million in funding led by Leeds Illuminate and South African internet giant Prosus Ventures (Formerly Naspers Ventures).
Other investors that participated in the funding round include Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s philanthropic organisation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Existing investors Sequoia India and Ved Capital also participated in the round, as per ET report.
About $20 million of the investment is a secondary cash out, while $93 million has been infused in the company, according to its filing with the Registrar of Companies.
“Covid-19 is dramatically accelerating change across higher education… We are engaging more deeply with universities worldwide to help them expand their online portfolio and global footprint,” said Ashwin Damera, co-founder and chief executive at Eruditus. The company has partnered with more than 30 universities to date, including MIT, Columbia, Harvard, Cambridge, INSEAD, Wharton, UC Berkeley and NUS among others, launching more than 100 courses across multiple languages.
“Education technology is a major focus for Prosus Ventures, and we now have six edtech portfolio companies spanning education across K-12, vocational upskilling, lifelong learning, and now higher education with the inclusion of Eruditus,” said Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Investments for India, Prosus Ventures.
“Eruditus has a proven track record of increasing access to education globally in partnership with leading universities,” said Vivian Wu, Managing Partner, Ventures at CZI. “We are particularly excited about their continued innovation in bringing these high-quality programs to emerging markets, in local languages and with top regional universities.”
Ashwin Damera, founder of Eruditus, told ET that the company had been profitable in the April-June quarter, and expects to post a “substantial profit” in its fiscal year ending June 30, 2021.
“We haven’t seen 3-5 times growth like others because we do a paid product and our price points are higher, but we’re doubling,” said Damera. “Last year, we did $100 million in revenues, this year we will do $200 million.”
Eruditus’ online only courses have seen growth more than double in the course of the pandemic, making up for drying revenues from courses that had an offline classroom component.
Eruditus said it used to earn 25% of its revenues from blended courses that offered in-campus learning, which is completely shut now.
“As higher education continues to lean on technology to help foster connected learning environments, particularly in the midst of the coronavirus, Eruditus is increasingly the trusted partner for developing such innovative curriculum,” Vu of CZI said.
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