Coursera secures $103M in Series E to accelerate the development its learning platform and drive international expansion

Coursera, the top leading online learning platform that provides online courses from the world’s best universities and companies, has closed a $103 million investment in a Series E equity round to further expand internationally and to accelerate the development of a learning platform that currently serves 40 million learners, 1,800 businesses, and over 150 top universities. The round was led by SEEK Group, a global leader in investing, scaling and operating online employment and education businesses, with participation from existing investors Future Fund and NEA.

Coursera was founded in 2012by Stanford professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller with a vision of providing life-transforming learning experiences to anyone, anywhere. It is now the world’s largest online learning platform for higher education. 190 of the world’s top universities and industry educators partner with Coursera to offer courses, Specializations, and degrees that empower over 40 million learners around the world to achieve their career goals. Over 1,800 companies trust the company’s enterprise platform Coursera for Business to transform their talent. Coursera is backed by leading venture capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates, GSV Capital and Learn Capital. To date, Coursera has raised a total of $313.1 million in funding over 9 rounds.

“The Fourth Industrial Revolution, marked by advancements in automation and artificial intelligence, is dramatically reshaping our lives, businesses, and jobs. Coursera is at the forefront of preparing individuals, companies, and governments to meet that challenge head-on and turn this disruption into opportunity,” said Jeff Maggioncalda, Coursera’s CEO. “The additional funding gives us the resources and flexibility to further expand internationally and to accelerate the development of a learning platform that currently serves 40 million learners, 1,800 businesses, and over 150 top universities.”

Commenting on the investment, SEEK Co-Founder and CEO Andrew Bassat said, “This investment reflects our commitment to online education, which is enabling the up-skilling and re-skilling of people and is aligned to our purpose of helping people live fulfilling working lives. We have been watching Coursera for many years; they have a great team of people doing terrific work. We are pleased to come on board to partner with them in their next phase of growth.”

Since raising a Series D in June 2017, Coursera’s learner base has grown from 26 million to 40 million. The 3,200 courses and 310 Specializations available on the platform are increasingly stackable, enabling learners to acquire new skills and earn valuable credentials while also building a pathway towards a full degree. The portfolio of degrees on Coursera has also grown to 14 world-class degrees from the top universities in high-demand areas of business administration, data science, computer science, and public health.

In January of this year, the company — along with top-ranked partners like Columbia University, Johns Hopkins and the University of Michigan — announced the launch of a health content vertical to address the acute shortage of skilled workers in the industry. And Coursera’s enterprise offering, Coursera for Business, continues to grow rapidly around the world with more than 1,800 customers including its largest enterprise partnership to date with the Abu Dhabi School of Government to upskill 60,000 government employees.