Online training firm raises $10 million venture fund

Online training provider Simplilearn Friday said it has raised $10 million from two venture funds - Helion Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital - to scale its operations.

"The second round of funding will allow us to expand course catalogue and focus on improving customer engagement with local talent in Australia, Britain, West Asia and the US," Simplilearn chief executive Krishna Kumar said in a statement here.

The start-up and its partners, however, did not disclose the equity holding post- dilution and value of shares transacted with premium, if any.

As an online platform, Simplilearn helps young professionals enhance career prospects through certification courses across industry verticals.

With study centres worldwide, the innovative firm (Simplilearn.com) offers about 80 courses across 11 categories.

"We aspire to be leaders in online certification exam preparation for professionals, with blended training programmes the world over as our USP (unique selling position)," Kumar said.

According to Helion Advisors director Rahul Chowdhri, Simplilearn is uniquely placed in a crowded online training market by being solely focused on certification courses.

"As demand for certified professionals grow, Simplilearn's innovative platform and large inventory of courses will be an invaluable resource for working professionals and large corporations," he said.

Launched as a blog in 2009 to share ideas on project management and offered PMP (project management professional) information about certificates and professional training, the company has been growing at a whopping 400 percent since its inception.

"It has trained about 75,000 professionals in 150 countries the worldwide with 500 fulltime faculty across locations," Kalaari managing director Rajesh Raju said.

The company claims to be on course to achieve Rs.100 crore revenue by this fiscal (2013-14)

The company's blended model to PMP training entails a mix of classroom and online training, which is followed by additional courses across categories.

--India-Asian News Service

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