UDEMY

Eren Bali grew up in a small village in Turkey with limited access to education. He taught himself math using the internet and became a Math Olympiad winner.

He moved to Silicon Valley with the dream of giving everyone access to the education he had to fight for. The first version of Udemy launched in 2010 as an open marketplace where anyone could teach and anyone could learn.

The early years were rough — the platform had few instructors, low-quality courses, and no brand recognition. It took years of grinding to reach critical mass.

Udemy is a course marketplace where anyone can create and sell online courses. Revenue comes from three streams: direct course purchases by consumers (Udemy marketplace), Udemy Business (enterprise subscription for employee training, $360+/user/year), and instructor revenue sharing (instructors typically get 37% of organic sales, 97% of sales through their own referrals).

The marketplace has over 200,000 courses and 70+ million learners.

Udemy Marketplace (200,000+ courses), Udemy Business (enterprise training), Udemy Pro (premium tier), Instructor platform, Certificate programs

Shift revenue mix toward Udemy Business (enterprise), which has higher margins and more predictable revenue. Improve course quality through ratings, curation, and instructor certification programs.

Expand internationally — Udemy is already in 180+ countries but has room to grow in non-English markets. Add AI-powered features for personalized learning paths.

Quality control is the eternal struggle. When anyone can publish a course, quality varies wildly.

Udemy has faced criticism for low-quality courses, misleading titles, and a race to the bottom on pricing (the perpetual $9.99 sales devalue instructors' work). The "Udemy sale" culture means consumers are trained to never pay full price, which hurts instructor earnings and perceived value.

Insight Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Stripes, Benesse Holdings, public market investors post-IPO