Unacademy is an educational technology startup that has been garnering a wide audience since the past few years. Off late, Unacademy in talks to raise $150 million to boost the pre-money valuation of the company. Japanese company SoftBank has been leading the deal.
All about the raise
Sources told ET that Unacademy in talks to raise $150 million, led by SoftBank. This deal with SoftBank, if finalised can boost the company’s pre-money valuation to $1.3 million- second highest in the country. The source also mentioned that existing investors will also take part in the equity funding round. No more details were leaked by the sources.
ET tried to talk to Unacademy regarding the same. But the company did not respond to any emails. However, a spokesperson of the company stated that they will not comment on just any “speculation”.
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Earlier fundings for Unacademy
Bloom Venture, Nexus Venture Partners, Steadview Capital and Sequoia Capital has been backing up Unacademy since forever. Facebook and General Atlantic have also been backing up the firm since they recently invested $110 million and $150 million, respectively.
SoftBank investing in Unacademy
SoftBank’s investment in Unacademy will the company’s first investment in an Indian company this year. SoftBank had last invested in Lenskart, but that was last December. It had also invested in Oyo and Paytm in the past.
A SoftBank spokesperson had told ET in July, that the company was looking to make around 10-15 investments in India. That was only if they found the right valuations, something that they found in Unacademy this time. If SoftBank goes with the deal, it might turn out to be quite a profitable decision for them, given the current pandemic scenario. With more and more learners turning to online platforms, educational technologies are a big hit nowadays. Plus, Unacademy will also benefit from the deal by leaving all its competitors behind in terms of the valuation of the company.