Facebook is currently looking at funding a Mumbai based Ed-tech startup, Eruditus. Eruditus was valued at $400 Mn last January by Sequoia Capital India. According to SimilarWeb research, the Ed-tech segment saw an increase of 26% in users between April 2019 to March 2020. A group of US-based tech-focused may also participate in the fundraising round.
Founded in 2010 by Chaitanya Kalipatnapu and Ashwin Damera, Eruditus provides executive education programs in association with global business schools such as MIT, Columbia, Harvard Business School, INSEAD, Tuck at Dartmouth, Wharton, UC Berkeley, and London Business School. These programs are held for six to eight months and can be available via on-campus, off-campus, and online modes.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), a non-profit organization headed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, is reportedly in advance talks to invest in Mumbai-based ed-tech startup Eruditus.
Prior to this, the company was valued at $400 Mn last January, after raising $40 Million in a Series C round led by Sequoia Capital India. The round also saw participation from existing investor Bertelsmann India Investments.
The company was planning to use the Series C fundraise to increase its course offerings in technical subjects such as data science, machine learning, blockchain, and cybersecurity. It also planned to expand its language offerings to include Portuguese and Mandarin, in addition to English and Spanish. Its investors also include Innoven Capital, which is the venture debt arm of Singapore state investment firm Temasek.
Ed-tech startups in India have been fast and evolving since the premise of COVID-19; many have adopted it and using it, currently. According to SimilarWeb, based on a study of 35 top online learning platforms, the Ed-tech segment saw a 26% increase in user visits between April 2019 to March 2020, as compared to April 2018 – March 2019. Further, the first 28 days of lockdown in India Ed-tech segment saw 128.8 Mn visits (on average, 4.6Mn daily visits) as compared to 102.2 Mn average visits between April 2019 – February 2020.