Indian edtech firm upGrad enters the unicorn club with $185m fundraise from Temasek, others

UpGrad, an India-based edtech startup, announced that it has closed a series of fundraising rounds to rake in a total of US$185 million at a valuation of US$1.2 billion, making it the country’s latest unicorn. Singapore state investor Temasek, the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation, and investment firm IIFL participated in the rounds.

The fundraise comes after upGrad announced last month that it had set aside US$250 million for mergers and acquisitions over the next seven to nine months. The Mumbai-based firm followed it up by acquiring Twitch-like game streaming firm Rheo TV last month and upskilling platform KnowledgeHut last week.

UpGrad co-founders Phalgun Kompalli (left), Mayank Kumar, and Ronnie Screwvala / Photo credit: upGrad

“We will announce further updates on M&As, and unlock value as they unfold. Yes, the last value was at US$1.2 billion, but as I keep saying, we are not a fan of the tag name unicorn – for us, it is only a means to a much larger goal,” upGrad co-founder Ronnie Screwvala said in a statement.

In April, upGrad had raised US$120 million from Temasek in its first external fundraise.

Interestingly, the company is reportedly in advanced talks to raise up to US$400 million at a valuation of up to US$4 billion.

That said, a bunch of startups in India have turned into unicorns this year. Some of the top names include Droom, Moglix, Groww, Infra Market, Meesho, Cred, Digit, and Ofbusiness.