Indian online IT certification startup Simplilearn raises $15M funding

India-based Simplilearn, an online education startup for professionals seeking IT certifications, announced today it has secured US$15 million in series C funding led by Mayfield. Previous investors Kalaari Capital and Helion Venture partners also participated in the round.

Founded six years ago, Simplilearn has accumulated 400,000 students around the world. It currently educates 15,000 learners per month, about 60 percent of whom live in the United States.

“US and India continue to be our primary growth markets. US is ahead due to the quicker adoption of online learning. With mobile and internet coverage increasing in India, we expect both the markets to grow very aggressively,” says Gerald Jaideep, COO of Simplilearn. “We’ve made substantial progress in growing our enterprise business. We’ve had large wins in India, Europe, and the US and some of our top customers include ​HP Bulgaria, Vodacom in Africa, Avaya, Pepsi in North America, Wipro India & TCS Europe, and the Emaar Group from Saudi Arabia. Collectively the enterprise business contributed to about US$3 million in revenue during the year.”

Unlike academic online education portals like Coursera, Simplilearn is made for career-focused IT professionals who know what they need to learn to advance to the next level. Most certifications are recognized globally by third-party certification bodies. Popular subjects include product management, IT service management, online marketing, cloud computing, and big data. It has over 300 courses in total.

“With more of our learners moving to mobile & online learning, the current funding will allow us to continue to invest in the platform, expand our course coverage, and also look at rapidly expanding in the US and other primary markets," says CEO Krishna Kumar in a statement.

The startup plans to expand its in-person workshops and corporate trainings, which are led by Simplilearn’s more than 2,000 instructors to supplement the online courses.

The most in-demand courses plus exam fees typically cost north of US$1,000, though prices vary widely depending on the subject.

To date, Simplilearn has raised US$27 million in capital.

We’ve reached out to Simplilearn for more information and will update this post if we hear back.

Update: added quotes from Jaideep