One of the most successful tech ventures this year involves online education. The positive turnaround results from the public’s clamor for e-learning tools to pass their time while their usual activities like work, school, and social life had to be halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation helped education startups as they try to raise more money to use for their growth opportunities.
In one of the most recent turns of events, a leading learning marketplace called Udemy started to raise at least $100 million in a Series F round of corporate funding that would set the business’s value at approximately $3.32 billion.
The massive open online course (MOOC) service provider based in San Francisco, California, already filed the necessary paperwork for Delaware’s fundraising opportunity. It was initially learned by a team from Prime Unicorn Index led by Justin Byers. However, it is still unclear whether the Series F round is already closed or if the online learning marketplace could raise the full amount or more.
When asked to comment, Udemy did not deny the report. Yet they opted not to say anything about the topic at this time.
According to the company’s spokesperson, Udemy implements a strict policy that barred them from commenting on speculations. However, they promised to say their piece if there are any significant changes in the future.
The speculated fundraise is considered a bold move for Udemy since it closed its Series E round in early 2020. During that time, they were able to raise $50 million. It escalated the company to have a $2 billion or more post-money valuation.
That round took place in February before the terrifying COVID-19 pandemic threatened the world. Around that time, the education-centric startups saw a sudden surge in their business at the beginning of spring. It also attracted investors to put their money on these rising businesses.
It is the trend that emerges in the industry based on the latest deals. Last week, Audacity revealed a $75 million debt round and declared that it finally became profitable. Back in October, Kahoot declared that they got a $215 million round that comes from SoftBank. A month earlier, Outschool was able to raise $45 million, which finally becomes profitable at the moment.
Other notable incidents that recently took place include the $50 million raise received by Homer from a remarkable team of strategic backers and the $150 million raised by Unacademy.
These are only some of the most significant deals in the industry. But there are also other smaller incidences of fundraises and launches of brand-new educational technology startups.
Back when Udemy was able to raise money before the start of the government-ordered lockdowns, the company’s president of business division revealed that they could get 50 million students who bought courses one by one. Meanwhile, their enterprise customers like General Mills, Adidas, Toyota, Lyft, and Pinterest, opted to get a subscription model.
But it looks like the business grew since that time, based on the figures posted on its company website. According to the company, there are around 400 million Udemy enrollees at the moment. It could be the company’s driving point to seek more capital.
More information about the development will be posted as soon as it comes.
