Day: April 27, 2021

UpGrad, an India-based edutech startup, has received a whopping US$120 million from Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings.

It is the first external investment raised by Upgrad.

The startup plans to use the capital to further strengthen its team, scale its global market operations, and bolster its technology and product capabilities.

A part of the financing will go into expanding its graduate and post-graduate degree portfolio in India and scaling up operations to achieve its US$2 billion revenue goal by 2026.

“This capital will further fuel our commitment to global expansion as well as deeper India penetration, as we march forward with our goal of making India the teaching capital of the world,” UpGrad co-founders said in a joint statement.

UpGrad was founded in 2015 by Ronnie Screwvala, one of India’s most influential personalities, along with Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli. Screwvala is not just an entrepreneur but also one of the biggest names in film production and distribution and a philanthropist.

The company’s goal is to help working professionals, students and enterprises upskill themselves in highly sought-after courses like Data Science, Management, Law, and more.

Also Read: Temasek joins Snyk’s US$300M Series E to help expand its cloud security services to APAC

Its programmes are designed in partnership with top universities like the IITs (Indian Institute of Technology), Jindal Global Law School, Duke CE, Deakin University, Liverpool John Moores University, and others.

The company claims to have an above 85 per cent programme completion rate with over 40,000 paid learners on its platform.

Temasek invests mostly in companies that operate in larger sectors like telecom, energy, and finance. It has most recently invested in Singaporean company Reefknot, China foodtech fund Bits x Bites, and EV Growth’s US$250 million Indonesia-focused fund.

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StashAway, a robo-advisor for both retail and accredited investors, is raising US$25 million in its Series D funding round led by Sequoia Capital India.

Existing investors, including Eight Roads Ventures (the global investment firm backed by Fidelity International and early investor in Alibaba), and Australian VC firm Square Peg also participated in the round.

The transaction will close in the next few months pending necessary regulatory approvals.

This funding round, which brings StashAway’s total paid-up capital to US$61.4 million, will be used to accelerate its investment product and feature developments across its five markets.

Also Read: Ex-Zalora CEO’s robo-advisor startup StashAway raises US$12M for APAC expansion

The company will also offer to buy back up to US$3 million in stock options from its employees and expand its engineering team in Singapore and abroad.

Abheek Anand, Managing Director, Sequoia India, will be joining StashAway’s Board of Directors as part of the funding round, pending regulatory approvals.

“StashAway is growing rapidly as it fulfils an obvious gap in the digital wealth management space, especially in areas where its competitors may be lacking: an easy-to-use platform, robust client relationships, and a very sophisticated investing framework. StashAway has built trust with its client base by navigating them through market volatility while providing strong returns,” Anand said.

StashAway was founded in 2016 by Ferrario, former chief of Zalora Group; Freddy Lim (CIO), former MD and Global Head of Derivatives Strategy at Nomura; and serial tech entrepreneur Nino Ulsamer (CTO).

It is a digital wealth management platform that delivers automated, personalised portfolio management to each client’s individual portfolios. Its risk-management investment strategy ERAA is designed to maximise clients’ long-term returns while keeping each individual customer’s specific risk exposure constant through changing economic cycles.

StashAway has a Capital Market Services License for Retail Fund Management from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and a Capital Market Services License for Digital Investment Management from Securities Commission Malaysia.

Also Read: Bibit snags US$30M to expand its robo-advisory platform in Indonesia

The new round comes less than a year after StashAway completed a US$16 million Series C fundraising round, led by Square Peg.

Prior to this, the robo-advisor raised US$12 million Series B, led by Eight Roads Ventures in July 2019.

Previously, it closed US$5.3 million Series A funding round from a group of family offices and individual investors.

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Image Credit: StashAway.

The post StashAway raises US$25M Series D to ‘fill the gap in digital wealth management space’ appeared first on e27.

It is finally here.

Today, we unveiled the 56 individuals that made up the e27 Luminaries.

This initiative highlights the unsung heroes of the startup ecosystem: undeterred and high-achieving individuals who do the day-to-day grind and make the company’s vision come true.

The e27 Luminaries features non-founders who have led groundbreaking projects, implemented life-saving ideas, or made improbable achievements despite the unfavourable situation, and who are directly nominated by their respective organisations. These companies were selected by the e27 team based on their remarkable achievements in any one of the five categories: Pivots, Fundings and Acquisitions, Partnerships, Expansions, and Breakthroughs.

Thanks to the efforts of these individuals, their companies have created more than 13,000 jobs and served at least 200 million customers in the market. They also have a combined valuation of more than US$50 billion. The verticals that they are working on range from fintech, e-commerce, agritech, to even deep tech.

Through e27 Luminaries, we aim to put the spotlight on the diverse faces of the SEA startup ecosystem –which consists of tech and business professionals at various levels in their career– and acknowledge the roles that each of us have played in building it. Hopefully, this can lead us to a stronger, more resilient ecosystem in the future, where ideas can flourish and innovation is nurtured.

We would like you to join us in celebrating these individuals here.

 

 

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