SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Sep 18, 2013) - Simplilearn (www.simplilearn.com), the leading provider of online training and professional certification courses, announced today that it raised $10-million in Series B funding from Helion Venture Partners and Kalaari Capital. The funding will allow the company to diversify and expand its course catalog to add more categories, focus on improving customer engagement by adding local team members in the US, UK, Australia and the Middle East, and enhancing its technology platform to make courses available on mobile devices.
"Simplilearn aspires to be world leaders in the business of online certification exam preparation for working professionals. Our USP is that we offer easy and convenient online, classroom and blended training programs across the globe. While there are many players in the market that design and deliver a gamut of certification exams, there is no single company that helps you effectively prepare for such certification exams, and this is the gap that Simplilearn is addressing," said Krishna Kumar, CEO of Simplilearn. "We've been fortunate to have successfully trained over 75,000 professionals, and we'd like to use this funding to continue to scale and help more professionals around the globe to realize their career dreams."
"The growth that Simplilearn has seen in the last few quarters is testimony to its success in differentiating itself in a crowded online training market. The approach of being solely focused on certification courses gives it a unique edge, and opens up a large addressable market," said Rahul Chowdhri, Director, Helion Advisors. "As the demand for certified professionals continues to grow, Simplilearn's innovative platform and large inventory of courses will be an invaluable resource for working professionals and large corporations."
Simplilearn offers blended classroom and online training programs across 11 categories: Project Management, Agile and Scrum Certification, IT Service Management, Big Data and Cloud Computing, IT Security Management, Finance Management, Quality Management, SAP Certification, CompTIA Certification, Microsoft Certification, and Cisco Certification.
In 2009, Simplilearn launched as a blog that shared ideas on project management and offered PMP aspirants information about certification and professional training. In April 2010, Simplilearn introduced an innovative "blended model" approach to PMP training, which entailed a mix of classroom and online training. A year later, the site began offering additional courses across categories and by June 2012, Simplilearn had trained over 20,000 professionals in over 50 countries around the world.
Now, Simplilearn offers online training, blended classroom training and exam practice tests 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in over 80 courses across 11 major categories. To date, the company has trained over 75,000 professionals in over 150 countries around the world. Arguably, it is the largest certification training provider for working professionals. The company comprises an exceptional team of over 500 full time professionals across locations.
"Since its inception, Simplilearn has grown at a rate of 400% and has outpaced that growth since our investment early last year," said Rajesh Raju, Managing Director, Kalaari Capital. "We are excited with the growth path that the company is embarking on with the current round of funding. We envision a global leadership position for the company in catering to individuals and corporates in a variety of certification areas."
Khetal advisors acted as the sole advisor to Simplilearn for this transaction.
For more information, visit www.simplilearn.com.
About Simplilearn
Simplilearn is an online learning destination for young working professionals who are looking at career enhancement through certification courses across industry verticals. With study centers across the globe, Simplilearn.com offers over 80 certification courses across 11 categories. At present, Simplilearn trains about 4000 professionals a month.Simplilearn is a Global Registered Education Provider (REP) of PMI, USA, Accredited Training Organization (ATO) by APMG International, UK, Accredited Examination Center (AEC) by EXIN and PEOPLECERT. All the courses offered at Simplilearn.com are accredited for online delivery and approved worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.simplilearn.com
About Helion:
Helion is a leading multi-stage venture fund with over $600 million under management. The fund invests across the technology and consumer sectors. Helion's investors are well-respected global institutions including top tier university endowment funds, sovereign funds, foundations, pension funds, family offices and Fund of funds. The fund and its portfolio companies are advised by an experienced and industry renowned team of professionals includes Sanjeev Aggarwal, Ashish Gupta, Kanwaljit Singh, Rahul Chandra and R Natarajan. For more information visit www.helionvc.com
About Kalaari Capital:
Kalaari Capital is a leading early-stage venture capital fund with a focus on technology-oriented companies. The fund is passionate about investing in entrepreneurs who are poised to be tomorrow's global leaders. Kalaari seeks out companies that are striving to capture new markets through innovative business models on a global scale. For more information visit www.kalaari.com
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