Tuesday, January 12, 2021

online learning "unicorns"

online education | TechCrunch

Online learning marketplace Udemy is raising up to $100M at a $3.32B valuation

Online learning marketplace Udemy raises $50M at a $2B valuation from Japanese publisher Benesse | TechCrunch

Udemy, which provides a marketplace offering some 150,000 different online learning courses from business analytics to ukulele lessons, has picked up $50 million from a single investor, Benesse Holdings, the Japan-based educational publisher that has been Udemy’s partner in the country. The investment was made at a $2 billion pre-money valuation, it said.

Udemy works with companies like Adidas, General Mills, Toyota, Wipro, Pinterest and Lyft and others — 5,000 in all — to develop and administer subscription-based professional development courses.

Among those that compete at least in part with it, Coursera last year announced a $103 million round of funding at a $1 billion+ valuation 

in Asia, Byju’s in India is now valued at $8 billion after a quick succession of large growth rounds. We’ve also heard that Age of Learning, which quietly raised at a $1 billion valuation in 2016, is also gearing up for another round.

Unlike Coursera and others that aim for full degrees that are potentially aiming to disrupt higher education, Udemy focuses on short courses, either simply for the student’s own interest, or potentially for certifications from organizations that either help administer the courses or “own” the subject in question.