upGrad

Founded in 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar, and Phalgun Kompalli, upGrad is an online higher education platform. As of November 2021, it had 300+ university partners, and provided personalized and comprehensive original content designed by industry experts to over two million users and 1,000 companies around the world using its proprietary AI technology. upGrad utilizes a number of different resources such as universities, faculty, and industry experts to provide immersive, university-quality education for students who can study at their own pace. As announced in October 2021, the company plans to secure partnerships with over 30 international universities in 12 months, and upskill 50,000 global learners through the PRISM learning platform by end FY2022 (beyond the nearly 80,000 learners using the platform). Moreover, the company planned to add 100 new online programs to its existing suite of content (announced in November 2021); and planned to increase its headcount by August to 6,500-7,000 from 4,000 (announced in May 2022). 

The company consolidated its three Indian subsidiaries in November 2021 as part of its vision of becoming a global integrated 'LifeLong Learning' company. upGrad merged upGrad Campus (originally Impartus), upGrad Jeet (originally The GATE Academy), and upGrad KnowledgeHut (originally KnowledgeHut) to create one parent company in India. Its APAC, EMEA, and US offices will continue to operate as independent subsidiaries.

In September 2021, the company launched a new segment named ‘upGrad Mentorship’, to offer personalized career solutions including resume and LinkedIn profile review, career guidance, domain interview preparation, HR interview preparation, and job search strategy. In March 2022, the company launched Vidya Shakti Scholarships to upskill 15,000 women in India over a 3-year period by offering full and partial scholarships. In August 2022, upGrad launched job-enabled courses to improve the employability of job seekers and college students, starting in India. It expects the segment to contribute USD 200 million in revenue over the next 24 months. During the same month, KnowledgeHut upGrad announced the launch of its data and AI engineering bootcamps to be offered in a blended learning format. 

To extend its global footprint, in November 2021, the company announced plans to expand into the Asia Pacific (APAC) region by setting up regional headquarters in Singapore and establishing local offices in strategic locations such as Vietnam and Indonesia. In line with this, in April 2022, upGrad Vietnam launched bilingual courses and local partnerships.

Within a few weeks of its announcement to designate USD 250 million for M&A, upGrad acquired KnowledgeHut, a provider of corporate learning for professionals through its flagship platform PRISM, in August 2021, to venture into the global reskilling and professional upskilling market. KnowledgeHut is expected to exceed USD 45 million and USD 100 million in revenue for FY2022 and FY2023, respectively. In November 2021, upGrad acquired Global Study Partners, an Australia-based education services provider, for USD 16 million and invested an additional USD 10 million in its future growth, marking its first acquisition outside of India and serving to expand its Study Abroad segment. A month later, the company acquired Talentedge, an Indian online higher education platform, for a reported USD 53-66 million as part of its local acquisition strategy. In April 2022, Talentedge’s previous owners, the Sekhsaria Family Office, acquired a stake in upGrad valued at USD 2 billion. In January 2022, the company acquired Work Better, an enterprise training platform, for an undisclosed sum, allowing it to bolster its product offering with Work Better’s  expertise in soft skills, sales, and behavior training. In April 2022, the company acquired INSOFE (International School of Engineering), an educational institute with a focus on data science, allowing the company to strengthen its existing AI and machine learning courses. In support of its expansionary plans, the firm’s subsidiary Rekrut acquired recruitment solution providerWolves India in July 2022, to strengthen upGrad’s tech placement portfolio. To further consolidate its presence in its home market, upGrad acquired Harappa Education, an online learning institution, for INR 3 billion (~USD 37.5 million), the same month, and planned to leverage on the company’s expertise in enterprise learning. In addition, the company announced in September 2022, that Harappa Education will launch its Accelerated Management Programme (AMP) under the Harappa School of Leadership in the US and later in the UK.  In August 2022, KnowledgeHut announced that it planned to acquire three small-scale companies across categories (cloud, project management, finance, data science and blockchain) in the next three months. In September 2022, upGrad acquired Centum Learning, a corporate training solution provider, to strengthen the company’s suite of solutions. The company announced in November 2022 that it planned to merge all its aquisitions in India into "One upGrad" and complete the integration process between March and June 2023. Additionally, the company planned to invest USD 30 million and open ten campuses throughout the world in 2023 in the US, India, and other nations under the new brand name "UGDX." As of February 2024, upGrad had allocated INR 1 billion (USD 12.1 million) to establish 100 offline centers across India, focusing on smaller towns and non-metropolitan areas.

Key customers and partnerships   

In July 2022, subsidiary firm KnowledgeHut partnered with Sweden-based telecommunication solutions provider Apis Training, to create upskilling solutions for engineers (based in India) as per Industry 4.0 requirements and address the skill gap in the telecom industry. A month later, the company announced that it had partnered with YourDOST, an emotional wellness platform, to launch three freemium courses in relation to workplace emotional wellness and mental wellbeing. In March 2023, the firm incorporated ChatGPT's core principles into its course curriculums and academic processes, offering practical learning opportunities for professionals globally. Additionally, the company was preparing to launch an AI-powered chatbot designed to facilitate personalized learning experiences.

Funding and financials

In March 2023, the company raised INR 3 billion (~USD 36.4 million) through a rights issue. In August 2022, the company raised USD 210 million in a funding round led by ETS Global. The round follows its USD 225 million fundraiser in June 2022 at a valuation of USD 2.25 billion. It intended to use the most recent funds to execute its plan of strengthening its workforce this year. 

For FY2022, the company reported revenue growth of 111% YoY to INR 6.92 billion (~USD 85.2 million). However, due to advertising and promotional costs nearly doubling (+91.7% YoY) and employee benefit costs rising (+77.4% YoY), the consolidated net loss for FY2022 widened by 3x to INR 6.27 billion (~USD 77.18 million). The business added that it would keep investing in significant US and Southeast Asian acquisitions. Additionally, the company reported that it expected upGrad Abroad, the overseas education division of upGrad, to become profitable in FY2023 and targeted USD 150 million in revenue by FY2024.