Separately, Upgrad founder and chairman Ronnie Screwvala has bought out Bharti Enterprises’ stake in the firm for $20 million, they added.
Bharti Enterprises had a 1% stake in Upgrad after the latter’s stock swap acquisition of skilling and training solutions firm Centum Learning in 2022.
Screwvala, a serial entrepreneur who previously started UTV, now owns a 45% stake in Upgrad. He is playing a bigger role at the edtech firm following the exit of cofounder Mayank Kumar as reported by ET on October 16, which also mentioned about the impending funding round.
Screwvala is planning to take Upgrad public over the next 7-8 quarters.
“The funding has now closed. Ronnie also increasing his stake further shows the commitment with recent changes and the more hands-on role he is going to play going forward,” a person briefed on the development said.
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This also makes Screwvala one of the few entrepreneurs with the largest shareholding in a venture-backed startup. Temasek and IFC are among the top investors in the company.Also Read | Investors leaving board was biggest setback, Byju’s now worth zero: founder Raveendran
Screwvala declined to comment on ET’s query.
“Currently , they (Upgrad) are doing a quarterly revenue of around Rs 600 crore–translating to about Rs 2,400 crore for the ongoing financial year,” one of the people cited above said.
ET’s report last week said Screwvala’s comeback is synced with Upgrad’s plans for an IPO in India and that the serial entrepreneur’s deeper engagement at the firm may bode well with public market investors.
Upgrad’s total funding round of $80 million, including the secondary transaction between Bharti Enterprise and Screwvala, is the third largest funding in the edtech sector even as broader stress continues in the sector.
PhysicsWallah recently closed a $210-million funding in September while executive education firm Eruditus closed a $150-million funding at a flat valuation of $3.2 billion.
Prior to the equity funding, Upgrad also closed a $35-million debt financing from Evolution X, a joint venture between DBS and Temasek.
Edtech startups have now seen around $650 million in funding so far this year compared to $4.1 billion in 2021 – the peak for the sector aided by Covid-19 tailwinds, data from Tracxn and ET’s calculation show.
Also Read | Eruditus raises $150 million led by TPG Rise, company to flip domicile to India from Singapore
However, this is still higher than the just $315 million for edtech for the entire 2023, which was an 87% decline from the $2.4 billion raised in 2022, reflecting the sector’s continued decline in the fundraise markets.
“Centum Learning is now part of Upgrad Enterprise and that’s the fastest growing vertical at Upgrad,” another person aware of the matter said.
A report from Upgrad investor 360 One said, “Enterprise revenue growth is robust and order book is Rs 104 crore in Q4 FY24. Upgrad turned profitable in skilling and reskilling business and placement services business in Q4… Consumer segment customer acquisition cost improved from ~30% in FY23 to ~22% in FY24. Non-university programme revenue in Q4 FY24 is up by ~22% QoQ & ~81% YoY.”
Upgrad has tie-ups with over 20 tier-I and tier-II universities, offering more than 70 courses in the fields of data science, management, digital transformation, tech and law.