Edtech startup Unacademy secures $11.5 Mn from Sequoia, SAIF, others

Online learning platform Unacademy has raised $11.5 million in a Series B financing led by Sequoia Capital India and SAIF Partners. Existing investors Nexus Venture Partners, Blume Ventures and a few angels also participated in the round.

The Bengaluru-based company will deploy funds towards enhancing its product and technology, scaling to other categories including personality development, new languages and job interviews. It also looks to invest in producing in-house content.

Unacademy lets educators create courses using their app on various subjects, including exclusive content for various competitive exams. To ensure quality, all educators on the platform go through screening process and selection is based on their experience.

So far, the company had raised $17.5 million in total funding across four rounds. Importantly, this is the third investment for Sequoia in past couple of year. Previously, it invested in Byju’s and maths learning platform Cuemath.

Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and CEO of Unacademy, said, “With the backing of Sequoia and SAIF, we are poised to gain momentum and create the first global education technology product out of India.”

Founded by Munjal, Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh and Sachin Gupta as an educational YouTube channel - Unacademy claims to have a million registered users. Currently, it has over 50,000 lessons online across various genres. The company’s educators range from influencers like Kiran Bedi to teachers in smaller towns and cities.

Also Read: Edugild launches 4th batch of Edtech accelerator with 5 new start-ups

“Unacademy democratises access to personalised learning by connecting educators and students directly on its platform,” said Alok Goel, managing director of SAIF Partners, in the company statement.

Earlier this year, Unacademy secured $4.5 million in Series A round led by Nexus Venture Partners and existing investor Blume Ventures.  Last year, it raised $1 million from Blume Ventures, Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal including Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma.

With this round, Unacademy plans to bring more than 10,000 educators across the globe in 18 months.

Unacademy: Website