Emeritus Secures $40M to Expand Online University Partnerships
Emeritus, an online education company partnering with top universities, raises $40 million in a Series C round led by Sequoia India. The startup plans to use the funds to expand its global reach and develop courses in new languages.
Emeritus, a U.S.-Indian edtech startup that partners with universities to offer digital courses, raises $40 million in a Series C funding round led by Sequoia India. This investment, which also includes participation from existing backer Bertelsmann India Investments, brings the company's total raised capital to approximately $50 million. The funding round continues a strong streak of investments into Asian education startups, following recent large raises for Byju's and Toppr.
Operating as the online branch of parent company Eruditus, Emeritus focuses on providing small, private, online courses rather than massive open online courses. The company collaborates with prestigious institutions like MIT, Columbia, and Wharton to deliver master's-level certificate courses and online degrees to working professionals. With a structure that divides students into sections of 100 and working groups of six, Emeritus achieves a remarkable 90 percent completion rate.
The startup currently employs 350 people across offices in Boston, Dubai, Mexico, Mumbai, and Singapore, and it expects to enroll 30,000 students from 80 countries this financial year. Looking ahead, Emeritus aims to grow that student figure ten-fold over the next five years by expanding its content library. A key part of this strategy involves translating and developing course materials into Portuguese and Mandarin for the first time, building upon its existing English and Spanish offerings.