upGrad, a pioneer in the online education revolution focused on powering career success for a global workforce of over 1.3 billion, has raised INR 287.5 crore (about $35 million) in funding from EvolutionX. This marks the Mumbai-based company’s initial debt financing in the current year. With this financing, the firm plans to support expansion, cover operational costs, and fulfil general corporate objectives.
According to its regulatory filing, which was accessed from the Registrar of Companies, the board at upGrad has passed a special resolution to issue 28,75,000 debentures at an issue price of Rs 1,000 each to raise Rs 287.5 crore or $35 million.
upGrad, founded in 2015, provides various B2C skilling programmes. Through the platform, top Indian and international universities can offer executive doctorates, master’s degrees, and diplomas. Under the B2B model, several programmes are also designed for enterprise clients and other staffing and recruitment services. The company entered the offline higher education sector in 2022 and allocated $30 million to establish ten worldwide campuses in India, the US, and other areas.
The four pillars that support upGrad’s Global Learning Engine are a vast collection of owned and original content and intellectual property; the startup’s best-in-class proprietary technology platform; a high-touch, human-led delivery service supported by mentors and coaches; and a track record of 85% course completion, backed by an additional 80% guaranteed performance for career outcomes. With offices in the UK, US, Middle East, India, Singapore, and Vietnam and a presence in numerous other countries, it has already been dubbed Asia’s higher EdTech leader.
upGrad has strong financial backing, having successfully secured a total funding of more than $650 million to date. This includes $36.5 million raised through a right issue by Teamsek, founder Ronnie Screwala, and other investors in March of the previous year.
EvolutionX Debt Capital (“EvolutionX”) is a growth-stage debt financing platform jointly set up by DBS and Temasek. Headquartered in Singapore, the organization is on a mission to accelerate the digitization of Asia’s economy. It provides less dilutive financing to technology-enabled companies across Asia, with a focus on China, India, and Southeast Asia. Investing in promising technology founders and entrepreneurs transforming large traditional industries aims to catalyze the region’s fast-growing technology ecosystem.
