Vedantu raises $100 mn in Series E funding led by ABC World Asia; becomes India’s 5th edtech unicorn

E-learning platform Vedantu is the fresh entrant to India’s unicorn club, with a $100 million fundraise in its Series E financing round led by Temasek-backed investor ABC World Asia, and existing investors Coatue Management, Tiger Global, GGV Capital, Westbridge.

Vedantu has hit a valuation of $1 billion, a significant jump from its $600 million valuation during the last funds raise in 2020. With this funding, Vedantu has become the fifth edtech startup to join the unicorn club apart from Byju’s, UpGrad, Unacademy and Eruditus.

The Bengaluru-headquartered firm had earlier denied the romours of the company being acquired by the industry leader Byjus and has consolidated its presence in the edtech sector while offering services through partnerships with satellite cable operators. The edtech major has also expanded its services to offer preparatory platforms to engineering, medical courses aspirants.

The company said it has onboarded 35 million students on the platform and aims to have half a million subscription-based user base by the end of this year. The platform currently has 200,000 paid customers.

Also read: From 9,000 to 15,000 a year: The changing paradigm of Indian startups

“We are thrilled to announce $100 million of Series E led by ABC World Asia. With this round, Vedantu’s valuation is at $1 bn. We would like to thank all our investors for believing in the vision and having the deep trust in us to create an Impact at Scale,” Vamsi Krishna, CEO and Co-founder of Vedantu, said.

He said the company hasn’t still used half the money from the last funding round ($100 million) and that the focus will lie on becoming profitable and listing on the bourses in the next 1-2 years.

 "Back in 2014, when we held our first LIVE class, nobody believed this would work. It is super satisfying to see this format becoming mainstream and Vedantu leading the way in innovative online delivery experiences. Our vision is simple: Unleash the potential in every child. We will continue to innovate to reach as many students as possible and create 10x better experiences and outcomes for every child at Vedantu. Even though we have made quality teaching affordable and enabled it to reach masses since our inception, it's still very early, much more transformation is still to come which we wish to drive forth. Fundamentally, I believe education has a long cycle, and changes take time to manifest. Seeing any significant change requires patience and the tenacity to sustain long term. With that in mind, we want to create a company that outlasts our lives and continues to innovate for decades to come," he added.

Also read: 88academics raises $3 mn in round led by Mohandas Pai's Aarin Capital

The company plans to deploy the fresh funds to expand its offerings aimed at students in grades one to five. Like its industry peers, Vedantu is also planning global expansion international expansion and some merger & acquisition opportunities.

The Covid-19 pandemic has proven to be a blessing for India’s edtech firms, which have also leveraged the peaked interest from the investors post the Chinese government’s crackdown on private edtech firms in the country.

In 2020, online learning space in India witnessed a $2 billion funding when the pandemic hit various other sectors hard, a report by research firm Traxcn said. Market leaders including Byjus, Unacademy and upGrad have attracted investments from global PE/VC funds as well as gone on to acquire smaller firms, which have a specialised tech product or service offering, leading to further consolidation within the sector. India’s edtech industry will reach a $30 billion market size by 2030.

Also read: Student loan platform Credenc acquires content startup ObserveNow

“Vedantu embodies our investment themes of providing better access to quality education and using digital technology to improve lives and livelihoods. In India, online education has the potential to extend the scope of ‘right to education’ to students in the underserved community and capture the ‘next half billion’ income group, representing over half of the country’s student population. With edtech experiencing meteoric growth in India, Vedantu as the pioneer and category creator in LIVE online tutoring is driving the tectonic shift towards online learning. Vedantu’s innovative platform empowers teachers who have delivered excellent results to offer personalised education to many students at once, creating the potential for impact at scale. We are pleased to partner with Vamsi and the Vedantu team as they continue to scale and shape learning outcomes for students in India,” Sugandhi Matta, Chief Impact Officer at ABC World Asia, said.

Also read: Byju's eyes Rs 10,000 cr revenue this year

Also read: Byju's to be a Rs 30,000 crore brand by 2023, says Byju Raveendran