Eruditus: The next global EdTech giant
The story
Eruditus is currently the 3rd most valued Indian EdTech unicorn ( Just behind BYJU'S and Unacademy). They are in pursuit of the global EdTech Thrones with a $500 million annual revenue run rate.
Eruditus provides educational courses targeting working professionals in partnership with some of the most prestigious universities, including Harvard University and MIT.
While other platforms and courses offer a generic structure based on the syllabus provided by the educational partners ( Universities, colleges ), Eruditu's founders followed an unorthodox approach by carefully analyzing the requirements for working professionals along with industry demands and structured their courses based on it.
Initially, Eruditus founders started by organizing physical classes and professor from leading universities were flown out to Indian cities for teachings. Based on their insights, they later pivoted to an online model.
While other platforms like edX and Coursera focus on providing broad and relatively generic courses, Eruditus focuses on providing tailormade courses for experienced professionals called SPOC.
Focusing on quality and collaborative SPOCs helped differentiate Eruditus from the vast ocean of online MOCs.
One of the crucial milestone was when the founder raised their first institutional round from Bertelsmann Investments Digital Partners in 2017. This funding came at a critical time when the founding team faced rejections from nearly 20 venture funds.
Unlike many other institutional funds, Bertelsmann understood education and the global scale.
Bertelsmann Investments Digital Partners was critical in helping Eruditus push into other global markets, including LATAM and China.
Later, series C funding led by Sequoia Capital in late 2018 was another landmark for the team; Sequoia's funding helped the core team accelerate their growth journey.
👋 Business Model
Eruditus had a fairly simple Model where they provided online and blended programs to working professionals in partnership with world-leading universities.
👋 Current status
Eruditus is currently profitable and had an annual revenue run rate of $500 million in 2021. They recently expanded into the k12 space by acquiring iD Tech Camps, which focuses on coding boot camps and technology courses.
EdTech being a hyper potential segment with dozens of capital plush players competing for the crown, Eruditus journey will be super interesting to watch.
Kudos and Best wishes to Chaitanya Kalipatnapu and Ashwin Damera, Lead the way 🥂.
