Temasek Holdings of Singapore and the World Bank's arm IFC have invested an additional Rs 220 crore (USD 29.5 million) in leading online education platform Upgrad, which focuses on upskilling/reskilling professionals, by purchasing out employees' equity holdings through Esops.

Upgrad received USD 120 million from Singaporean investment giant Temasek Holdings and USD 40 million from the International Finance Corporation in its first external fund raising in the last week of April, in which the promoters divested 25% of their equity.

Upgrad co-founder and chairman Ronnie Screwvala told PTI on Tuesday that Temasek and IFC injected an additional USD 29.5 million or Rs 220 crore into the company by purchasing the Esops (employee stock option scheme) from around 37 employees.

The recent Temasek and IFC fund-raise has resulted in a small secondary deal for the company's early and long-term team members. He explained that the founder group still owns more than 70% of the company and has created a large Esop pool that accounts for close to 13% of the enlarged equity base.

The Mumbai-based startup, co-founded in 2015 by ex-media baron Screwvala, Phalgun Kompalli, Mayank Kumar, and Ravijot Chugh by investing over Rs 170 crore, was valued at over USD 850 million after two quick rounds of equity infusion of USD 160 million.

Over 600 employees have benefited from the Esop scheme.

Screwvala had previously told PTI that the three promoters (excluding Ravijot Chugh) would retain nearly 75 percent of the equity, of which he would own 60 percent, and the other two co-promoters would hold nearly 15 percent.

However, they have refused to share how much each investor has chosen and how much their holding has increased.

Upgrad announced last week that it would expand through acquisitions and had set aside USD250 million for the purpose, with the first two deals to be completed within the next two months.

After ending FY21 with a revenue run rate of over Rs 1,200 crore (up from Rs 230 crore in FY20), the company has set a target of more than doubling the revenue run rate to Rs 2,400 crore this fiscal, thanks to the pandemic-created work-from-home culture.

The higher topline numbers are due to the possibility of more than doubling the student base to over 1 million in the first nine months of the pandemic, which has been boosted by pandemic-induced work-from-home, which has caused professionals to seek a lot of re-skilling and up-skilling to meet the changed demand from work.