Eruditus, an executive education-focused startup that offers professional education courses through collaboration with leading universities, has received a $350 million debt financing from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) to fund its aggressive acquisition plans in its overseas markets.
According to the company, the debt capital will be used for two key acquisitions in Europe and the US. Ashwin Damera, Co-founder of Eruditus, reportedly said the company has been in talks for strategic acquisitions and plans to spend as much as $1 billion for the same.
About $200 million of gross bookings next financial year are expected through the inorganic route. Eruditus is said to be already in the final stages of closing a $250 million acquisition in Europe, of a company that largely offers online certificate courses to non-English speakers.
"We are projecting about $700-750 million in gross bookings for next financial year and inorganic bets will play an important role in terms of contributions," Damera told The Economic Times. The company had gross bookings of around $175 million in FY21.
Damera said the company will also look at raising equity capital after this debt financing in the second half of 2022, which could be anywhere between $200 million and $300 million.
"The investment is also aligned with our strategy of pursuing high-quality credit investments across the Asia Pacific and delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns for our contributors and beneficiaries," said Raymond Chan, Managing Director and Head of APAC Credit at CPP Investments.
"Eruditus Executive Education and Emeritus grew 3x in FY22 to $500M and will grow a further 2x in FY23 to nearly hit $1B in bookings. But the bigger milestone will be touching the lives of our students. Thank you CPP Investments and Investissements RPC for backing our ambition to reach 1 million students," Ashwin Damera posted on his LinkedIn page.
For Eruditus, about one-fifth of its gross annual bookings come from India while the rest is split across markets like the US, Latin America, Europe, and others. In FY21, the company reached learners in around 80 countries and offered its programmes through partnerships with more than 50 universities globally.
In May last year, Eruditus made a $200 million acquisition of Silicon Valley-based iD Tech to enter the K-12 learning and STEM space, while most of its current courses are geared towards experienced professionals or at least graduates. In August, it raised $650 million as a part of its Series E funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund II and Accel US, valuing the Mumbai-based company at $3.2 billion and becoming the fourth Indian EdTech startup to join the unicorn club in 2021.
