Unacademy raised $150 million in funding round led by SoftBank

Headquartered in Bengaluru, edtech startup Unacademy raised funding worth $150 Million led by Japanese multinational conglomerate SoftBank. With the recent fundraising, Unacademy has entered into a unicorn club by having valuation at around $1.45 Billion. The funding round also consisted of investment from existing shareholders General Atlantic, Facebook, Blume Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Nexus Venture Partners. 

On 2nd September, co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal shared the information related to funding on Twitter. 

 Around five months back in February 2020, Unacademy raised $110 Million in Series E funding round, reflecting a valuation of $510 Million. As per Cruchbase information, Unacademy is funded by 33 investors and has raised a total of $348.5 Million in over eight funding rounds.

With a $1.45 Bn valuation, Unacademy is now second only to BYJU'S, another Indian educational technology player named having a valuation of $10 Bn. Unacadmey mentioned that it would be utilising the raised funds for launching new products and building a world-class team and organisation.

Covid-19 Pandemic: Boon for Edtech Sector

At the peak of the Covid-19 in mid-April, the coronavirus affected 90% of the total enrolled learners as well caused the closure of schools across 190 countries. Various stakeholders, like teachers, students, and parents, understood and acknowledged the importance of new methods of learning. The pandemic acted as a catalyst in the adaptation of education technology sooner than later. 

Opportunity in Pandemic for Unacademy

It remains interesting to see that Unacademy experienced a three times increase in valuation and also a four times increase in the subscriber base during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Unacademy platform consists of educators over 18,000 and a registered subscriber base of 30 Million as well paying subscriber base of more than 350,000. Unacademy focuses on the K12 segment and also provides lessons for skill development and competitive exams preparation. 

Unacadmy has been tapping the inorganic growth opportunities by acquiring smaller edtech startups providing niche offerings. It has acquired 5 organisations so far.