Social networking giant Facebook with private equity firm General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital India invested USD 110 million in Unacademy - a five year old startup company. Unacademy has been bridging the gap between the students and the educators through online videos pertaining to competitive exams. The company is also expected to value about USD 500 million in this new round. For Facebook, it is their second investment on a startup in India, pervious being Meesho which is indulged in social commerce which also enjoys backing from WatsApp. While for General Atlantic, this would be their second major investment in education technology with previous being the Byju’s which is currently valued at USD 8 billion.

According to Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and chief executive, Unacademy, “Our goal from day one has been to democratize education and make quality education accessible to everyone. We do that by bringing the best educators and content on our platform and ensuring it is accessible to everyone across the country. We are seeing great learning outcomes through our subscription where learners can take live classes by these educators. We now have more than 90,000 active subscribers. We are striving to not just become the largest educational organization, but the largest consumer internet story out of India."

Unacademy started its paid subscription program from Febuary last year with its Unacademy Plus. If we relate to a recent tweet by Munjal, Unacademy has reached 90,000 active subscribers. “We started monetizing last year in February with Rs 2 crore a month and have presently reached about Rs 18 crore, which is about a 9x growth. The growth has been coming from across all major exams like UPSC, IIT –JEE and Bank PO,” added Munjal. 

“Unacademy’s live classes platform disrupts and democratizes the learning process in an unmatched manner, with the more than 18 million students who engage with the company’s content underscoring its quality. Multilingual classes, practice tests, peer discussions and comprehensive coverage of over 30 exam categories is also leading to accelerated adoption of the company’s subscription plan, Unacademy Plus," said Shantanu Rastogi, Managing Director, General Atlantic.

“Facebook is an ally for India’s economic growth and social development, and we are excited about India and its rapidly rising internet ecosystem. With this investment in Unacademy, we are reinforcing our commitment to the Indian startup ecosystem, as well as investing in a company that is transforming learning in India. We love that the company is fundamentally democratizing education and driving innovation in new learning models," said Ajit Mohan, vice president and managing director, Facebook India.