By Krystal Hu and Anirban Sen
(Reuters) – Online learning platform Udemy is in advanced talks to raise around $100 million in a new private funding round that will value the online learning platform at over $3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
San Francisco-based Udemy has seen a boost in subscriptions this year as more people have stayed at home and opted for online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fresh capital would follow the $50 million Udemy raised in a Series E round from Japanese publisher Benesse Holdings at a valuation of $2 billion in February.
Edtech companies have seen faster and wider adoptions as more people switch to remote learning due to restrictions during the pandemic. Private funding in the sector has surpassed 2019 levels, with over $4.8 billion raised by August 2020, according to CB Insights.
In July, Coursera, another major online classes provider, raised $130 million as part of its Series F funding.
Udemy has seen growing demand from its consumer-faced marketplace, as well as its corporate learning service, Udemy for Business, which has achieved $100 million annual recurring revenue, the company said this week. The service counts companies including PayPal, Apple and Unilever as its customers.
Between February and March, Udemy has seen a 425% spike in enrollments for individuals. It is also expanding footprints to fast-growing markets including Brazil, India and Japan.
Udemy has hired Goldman Sachs to advise on the fundraising, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the matter is private.
Udemy and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
(Reporting by Anirban Sen in Bengaluru and Krystal Hu in New York; additional reporting by Joshua Franklin in Boston; editing by Richard Pullin and Tom Brown)
