MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwired - Oct 27, 2015) - Coursera, the largest platform for open-access courses from the world's top universities, announced the participation of EDBI, the dedicated corporate investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board, in its recent Series C financing. The second closing brings Coursera's total Series C funding to $61.1 million.
Coursera will use the funding from Series C to address the demand for high quality, accessible education around the world and particularly in Asia where over a quarter of its users are located. The US-based company will expand its efforts to source new, career-relevant content and improve the learning experience to meet the needs of learners in Asia, one of its fastest-growing markets.
Singaporeans were early adopters of Coursera's open online courses. The country's per capita enrollment and course completion rate on Coursera are among the highest globally. National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) became Coursera partners in 2013 and have offered more than a dozen successful courses to learners worldwide. Coursera has also engaged in a successful pilot training program with Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority (IDA). The IDA cofunds the training fees for Singaporeans who successfully complete the Data Science Specialization, a rigorous course series on Coursera offered by Johns Hopkins University.
"We are pleased to welcome EDBI as an investor as we work to bring universal access to the world's best education to citizens in Singapore and across Asia," said Rick Levin, CEO of Coursera and former President of Yale University. "We provide accessible and career-relevant training opportunities from instructors at the world's top education institutions to anyone who seeks them."
"Coursera, with its clear leadership in the open online learning sector is well positioned to provide widespread access to the world's best education. EDBI is pleased to partner with Coursera in growing its presence in Singapore as well as the region, leveraging Singapore's reputation as a leading knowledge hub with well integrated high-quality system of education and training," said Swee-Yeok Chu, CEO and President of EDBI.
Coursera's Series C financing is led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), one of Coursera's original investors. Among the firms joining NEA along with EDBI are existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GSV Asset Management, International Finance Corporation, Learn Capital, as well as a new investor, Times Internet, which holds the Times of India and related media properties in India.
Coursera was co-founded in 2012 by Stanford computer scientists Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng, a Singaporean who helped found the Google Brain project and is currently Chief Scientist of Baidu Research in Silicon Valley. Coursera now offers more than 15 million registered learners around the globe access to over 1,400 courses and 80 Specializations, series of courses that build mastery in a career-relevant topic.
About Coursera
Take online classes and Specializations from 130+ top universities and educational organizations. Coursera partners with schools internationally like Yale University, University of Edinburgh, and Peking University, as well as National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore to offer courses in dozens of topics, from computer science to psychology and beyond. Whether you are pursuing a passion or looking to advance your career, Coursera provides open online education for everyone.
For more information, visit www.coursera.org.