UPGRAD

Ronnie Screwvala sold UTV to Walt Disney for $454 million and was looking for his next big thing. He saw that India had a massive skills gap — millions of working professionals needed new qualifications but couldn't leave their jobs to attend university.

In 2015, he co-founded upGrad with Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli to deliver online degrees from top universities to working professionals. The focus: career outcomes, not just certificates.

Programs are designed to lead to promotions, salary increases, or career switches.

Revenue share with university partners (similar to 2U/Eruditus model). Students pay $3,000-$15,000 for programs.

upGrad handles marketing, enrollment, mentoring, and career services. The university provides the curriculum and credential.

upGrad also offers corporate training programs to enterprises. Revenue comes from course fees and corporate contracts.

Online Degrees — master's degrees from universities like Liverpool John Moores, IIIT Bangalore, and others. Certifications — short programs in data science, digital marketing, MBA, and more.

Corporate Training — enterprise upskilling programs. Career Services — placement assistance and mentoring.

India-first, then global. upGrad dominated India's working professional education market before expanding to Southeast Asia, Middle East, UK, and US through university partnerships and acquisitions.

They acquired multiple smaller EdTech companies to add capabilities. The corporate training arm opened a second revenue stream.

Competition from Eruditus, Coursera, and increasingly from universities going direct. The Indian EdTech market had a brutal correction in 2022-2023 — BYJU'S collapse destroyed investor confidence.

upGrad had to prove it was different: real degree outcomes, not just content consumption. Profitability pressure is intense.

Temasek (Singapore sovereign wealth fund), IIFL, and International Finance Corporation (World Bank) invested. The company raised $250M+ and expanded aggressively through acquisitions.