Unacademy Raises $11.5M in Series B Funding Led by Sequoia India and SAIF Partners
Early investors Blume Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners also participated in the round supporting Unacademy’s vision to build a global education product out of India.
New York, NY, September 15, 2017 --(PR.com)-- Investment to be used to scale tech, product and design teams, produce content, onboard authors, expand to new categories on the platform.
Plans to grow 10X and onboard more than 10,000 educators across the globe in 18 months.
Unacademy has more than a million subscribers on YouTube.
India's largest learning platform Unacademy today announced the close of a $11.5M Series B round of funding led by Sequoia India and SAIF Partners. Existing investors and angels including Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures also participated in the round.
Unacademy will utilize the funding to accelerate its product and technology as well as scale to other categories including personality development, new languages and job interviews. The company will also significantly invest in producing its own knowledge based content with its top educators on the platform.
“Our vision is to build the world’s largest online knowledge repository by empowering great educators,” said Gaurav Munjal, CEO and co-founder, Unacademy. “With the backing of Sequoia India and SAIF Partners, we are poised to significantly gain momentum and create the first global education technology product out of India. I’m very excited to kickstart this new phase of growth for Unacademy.”
Unacademy is an online learning platform that empowers educators to create courses on various subjects. The platform currently has more than 50,000 lessons online and over 1 million registered users. It is also one of the largest education channels on YouTube India with 1 million subscribers.
The platform’s educators range from influencers like Dr Kiran Bedi to teachers in smaller towns and cities such as Dhiraj Singh Chouhan in Jagdalpur and Yasmin Gill in Panchkula.
Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore Pte. Ltd., said, “Sequoia India is inspired by Unacademy's vision to create a global platform that enables educators to create content and engage with learners. The missionary team at Unacademy is off to a tremendous start, achieving rapid early adoption and Sequoia is thrilled to be a part of their journey.”
Alok Goel, Managing Director, SAIF Partners, said, “Unacademy democratises access to personalised learning by connecting educators and students directly on its platform. We believe it has the potential to disrupt the status quo that limits access to quality education at a global level. With very limited investment, the team has built a strong brand and word-of-mouth reputation. We are delighted to support the team in realising their mission.”
Unacademy was founded by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh and Sachin Gupta. Gaurav and Hemesh were previously running Flatchat which was acquired by CommonFloor in 2014. Roman, 26, is a doctor from AIIMS and one of the youngest people to clear the prestigious Indian Civil Services Examination. To follow his passion, he quit his administrative services post as Asst. Collector of Jabalpur to start Unacademy.
Recently, the company added billionaire and serial entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia to the board.
Media Contact
Preethi Jayapathi
Head, Corporate Communications
Unacademy
+91-7975910858, preethi@unacademy.com
About Unacademy
Unacademy, (Sorting Hat Technologies Private Limited) founded in December 2015 by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh and Sachin Gupta, has risen rapidly to become India’s largest free learning platform, with over 1 million users (as of August 2017). There are over 50,000 online lessons and specialised courses created by thousands of educators.
Backed by Sequoia, SAIF, Nexus Venture Partners, Blume Ventures, as well as top angel investors in the country, Unacademy currently employs 60 in its Bengaluru office.
About Unacademy's Founders:
Gaurav Munjal
Co-Founder & CEO
Entrepreneur; sold first company to CommonFloor. NMIMS Computer Science graduate, worked with Media.net (Directi) as a software developer for one year. Started Flat.to/Flatchat in 2013 which was later sold to CommonFloor.
Roman Saini
One of India’s youngest IAS officers; was the Assistant Collector of Jabalpur prior to starting Unacademy. Also doctor from AIIMS.
Hemesh Singh
Graduated with ECE major from MNNIT. Hemesh was Flat.to's first employee and after its acquisition by Commonfloor, joined Gaurav as Co-Founder at Unacademy.
Sachin Gupta
MNNIT Computer Science graduate, worked with Cisco and Goibibo as Software developer for two years. Hemesh and Sachin have worked together on multiple projects in the past.
Plans to grow 10X and onboard more than 10,000 educators across the globe in 18 months.
Unacademy has more than a million subscribers on YouTube.
India's largest learning platform Unacademy today announced the close of a $11.5M Series B round of funding led by Sequoia India and SAIF Partners. Existing investors and angels including Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures also participated in the round.
Unacademy will utilize the funding to accelerate its product and technology as well as scale to other categories including personality development, new languages and job interviews. The company will also significantly invest in producing its own knowledge based content with its top educators on the platform.
“Our vision is to build the world’s largest online knowledge repository by empowering great educators,” said Gaurav Munjal, CEO and co-founder, Unacademy. “With the backing of Sequoia India and SAIF Partners, we are poised to significantly gain momentum and create the first global education technology product out of India. I’m very excited to kickstart this new phase of growth for Unacademy.”
Unacademy is an online learning platform that empowers educators to create courses on various subjects. The platform currently has more than 50,000 lessons online and over 1 million registered users. It is also one of the largest education channels on YouTube India with 1 million subscribers.
The platform’s educators range from influencers like Dr Kiran Bedi to teachers in smaller towns and cities such as Dhiraj Singh Chouhan in Jagdalpur and Yasmin Gill in Panchkula.
Shailendra Singh, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore Pte. Ltd., said, “Sequoia India is inspired by Unacademy's vision to create a global platform that enables educators to create content and engage with learners. The missionary team at Unacademy is off to a tremendous start, achieving rapid early adoption and Sequoia is thrilled to be a part of their journey.”
Alok Goel, Managing Director, SAIF Partners, said, “Unacademy democratises access to personalised learning by connecting educators and students directly on its platform. We believe it has the potential to disrupt the status quo that limits access to quality education at a global level. With very limited investment, the team has built a strong brand and word-of-mouth reputation. We are delighted to support the team in realising their mission.”
Unacademy was founded by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh and Sachin Gupta. Gaurav and Hemesh were previously running Flatchat which was acquired by CommonFloor in 2014. Roman, 26, is a doctor from AIIMS and one of the youngest people to clear the prestigious Indian Civil Services Examination. To follow his passion, he quit his administrative services post as Asst. Collector of Jabalpur to start Unacademy.
Recently, the company added billionaire and serial entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia to the board.
Media Contact
Preethi Jayapathi
Head, Corporate Communications
Unacademy
+91-7975910858, preethi@unacademy.com
About Unacademy
Unacademy, (Sorting Hat Technologies Private Limited) founded in December 2015 by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh and Sachin Gupta, has risen rapidly to become India’s largest free learning platform, with over 1 million users (as of August 2017). There are over 50,000 online lessons and specialised courses created by thousands of educators.
Backed by Sequoia, SAIF, Nexus Venture Partners, Blume Ventures, as well as top angel investors in the country, Unacademy currently employs 60 in its Bengaluru office.
About Unacademy's Founders:
Gaurav Munjal
Co-Founder & CEO
Entrepreneur; sold first company to CommonFloor. NMIMS Computer Science graduate, worked with Media.net (Directi) as a software developer for one year. Started Flat.to/Flatchat in 2013 which was later sold to CommonFloor.
Roman Saini
One of India’s youngest IAS officers; was the Assistant Collector of Jabalpur prior to starting Unacademy. Also doctor from AIIMS.
Hemesh Singh
Graduated with ECE major from MNNIT. Hemesh was Flat.to's first employee and after its acquisition by Commonfloor, joined Gaurav as Co-Founder at Unacademy.
Sachin Gupta
MNNIT Computer Science graduate, worked with Cisco and Goibibo as Software developer for two years. Hemesh and Sachin have worked together on multiple projects in the past.
Contact
Unacademy
Preethi Jayapathi
797 591 0858
www.unacademy.com
Preethi Jayapathi
797 591 0858
www.unacademy.com
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