Internet and telecommunications group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 has co-led a $650m funding round for India-based online adult education provider Eruditus with venture capital firm Accel, the Economic Times reported today.
The round consisted of a mixture of $430m in primary funding and $220m in secondary investments, with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board supplying primary funding in addition to buying stock from existing shareholders.
Selling shareholders included media group Bertelsmann, and the round valued the company at $3.2bn, up from about $700m when it last raised money, in a September 2020 series D round sized at $113m.
Eruditus runs an online platform which provides executive education and coaching through courses supplied by a range of higher education partners. The funding will go to product development and the expansion of its course range.
Ashwin Damera, the company’s founder and chief executive, could have potentially sold up to $100m of shares through the round, sources told ET. He told the publication his stake currently stands at 40%.
Prosus Ventures, the investment arm of e-commerce and media group Naspers’ Prosus spinoff, co-led the series D round with growth equity firm Leeds Illuminate, investing alongside Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia India and Ved Capital
Sequoia India had co-led the company’s $40m series C round, in early 2019, which included Bertelsmann subsidiary Bertelsmann India Investments. The latter investor had supplied $8.2m in series B financing for Eruditus in 2017, after an undisclosed sum from Neil Bearden the previous year.
