SoftBank in talks to back edutech co Unacademy – Times of India

Digbijay Mishra & Madhav Chanchani | TNN
Bengaluru: SoftBank Vision Fund is in advanced discussions to lead a $150-million round in education technology startup Unacademy at a valuation of about $1.5 billion (unicorn status, or valued at over $1 billion), said two sources briefed on the matter. The deal, if closed, will nearly triple the valuation of the startup in less than six months. It was valued at about $500 million when it raised funding from social networking giant Facebook earlier this year.
“They have signed the term sheet. Unacademy has shown a good revenue trajectory with its subscriptions. It is now at an annual revenue run-rate of $70-80 million,” one of the people mentioned earlier said. This was around $30 million in January, this person added.
When contacted, a spokesperson of Unacademy declined to comment on the matter, while a SoftBank spokesperson said it “cannot comment on speculation”.
SoftBank’s interest in Unacademy also indicates the broader enthusiasm around the online education sector that’s becoming prominent due to the virus outbreak pushing more teaching sessions to into the e-arena. This would also mark the first new bet by SoftBank in India this year, and its first on local education, as it continues to be cautious in making global investments following losses linked to WeWork and Uber.
Started in 2015, Unacademy connects educators giving lessons with students through online videos for competitive exams like UPSC (civil services), IIT-JEE, and bank probationary officers. It recently acquired Prep Ladder, an online platform to prepare for medical entrance exams, for $50 million, and invested $5 million in another startup Mastree, which provides classes from grade 5-8. In April, Unacademy said it saw an 82% increase in revenues as compared to March with time spent on its platform at 1.4 billion minutes — 40% growth over March. So far, it has raised just under $200 million from investors, including Sequoia Capital India, General Atlantic, and Steadview Capital.
Unacademy was started by Gaurav Munjal, who sold his first startup Flatchat to Commonfloor, along with Hemesh Singh (former CTO at Flatchat) and former IAS officer Roman Saini.
Unacademy’s entry to the coveted unicorn club comes when other online education firms like Byju’s have been in the middle of the action with the recent acquisition of online coding class provider WhiteHat Jr for $300 million. Before that, famed Silicon Valley investor and analyst Mary Meeker’s Bond Capital-backed Byju’s valued it at $10.5 billion in July. Vedantu also closed a $100-million round led by US hedge fund Coatue, doubling its valuation to $600 million.