Upskilling service provider Simplilearn raises $45 million in funding to expand global business

San Francisco and India-based edtech startup Simplilearn anounced recently that it has raised $45 million in a fresh round of funding led by global edtech-focussed venture capital firm GSV Ventures, with the participation also from Clal Insurance, DisruptAD, and ADQ’s venture platform. 

According to the startup, the funding will be used to grow its business across the globe. 

Founded in 2010, Simplilearn offers digital skilling programmes for professionals, enabling learners to upskill and get certified in fast-growing digital domains. It creates these programs in collaboration with education institutions such as Purdue University, Wharton Online, IIT Roorkee and IIT Kanpur, as well as technology majors such as IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and KPMG. 

In June 2021, the company had announced that private equity major Blackstone had invested $250 million (over ₹1,870 crore) in it for a controlling stake.
Since then, Simplilearn claims to have added more than 120,000 paid B2C learners and another 100,000 enterprise learners on its platform.
The company claims to have over 2 million learners on its free digital training platform SkillUp. Avendus was the financial advisor to Simplilearn for the transaction.

In FY22, the edtech major reported a 26X rise in its net losses to INR 149.9 Cr against INR 5.6 Cr losses incurred in the previous fiscal year.