Upgrad, an online upskilling network, has raised another $40 million (roughly Rs 290 crore) from the World Bank's IFC, taking the promoters' stake in the company down to 75 percent.

Mumbai-based Upgrad Education Private Limited is a corporation that provides online higher education. Data sciences, digital marketing and networking, product management, and software development programmes are all available through the company.

Temasek Holdings, a Singaporean investor, had recently invested $120 million in the company. The $160 million infusions in two quick rounds boosts the Mumbai-based startup's valuation to $850 million, bringing it closer to unicorn status. This is the company's second round of external funding.

Ronnie Screwvala, Phalgun Kompalli, Mayank Kumar, and Ravijot Chugh formed Upgrad in 2015 with a total investment of over Rs 170 crore, the majority of which came from Screwvala.

“The work we do has been well-acknowledged by the $160 million funding from two of the very reputed global investors this week -- $120 million from Temasek this Monday and $40 million from the IFC today. That the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has chosen to invest in us is a big reflection of the work we do,” says, Chairman and Co-founder, Screwvala.

According to him, the IFC funding represents the strong synergies that exist between their investment strategy and our work. Screwvala stated that the investment could take another six weeks to complete and that they are currently undertaking the legal formalities. The IFC had already made the customary notification to the government in January (foreign ministry).

When asked when he expects Upgrad to be officially labeled a unicorn, Screwvala responded that our emphasis is on continuous improvement and increased focus on what we do, not on labels. We have a good headline because of our standing, but we are more concerned with our jobs than with headlines.

Screwvala stated that the three promoters (excluding Ravijot Chugh) will maintain almost 75 percent of the equity, of which he owns 60 percent, and the other two co-promoters will hold nearly 15 percent, with two foreign investors holding the remaining 25 percent.

When asked if Upgrad will reach its FY21 revenue goal with a monthly revenue run rate of Rs 100 crore, Screwallah said yes, adding that the FY21 numbers are over Rs 1,200 crore. It had ended the fiscal year with a sales run rate of just Rs 230 crore.

The higher top-line figures are due to the possibility of more than doubling the student base to over 1 million, bolstered by pandemic-induced work-from-home, which has forced professionals to seek extensive re-skilling and up-skilling to meet changing work demands. Screwallah ruled out going public, claiming that the company's sales run-rate of Rs 1,200 crore is too limited for the stock market.

I know both the advantages as well as the disadvantages of running a publicly-traded company and I feel one needs to have a critical mass to take a company public (his UTV was acquired by Disney at an enterprise valuation of $1.4 billion in 2013). And therefore, we are focused on further building our growth in the coming years, he said.

Mayank Kumar, co-founder, and managing director said in January that from about 5 lakh professionals who took to its learning and upskilling between 2015 and March 2020, the nine lockdown months alone saw the same crossing 1 million by December.