Udemy, a provider of an online learning platform of more than 150,000 courses, has raised a $50 million Series E round of funding, claiming a $2 billion valuation. Benesse, an education and publishing provider in Japan that has been a content and localization partner of Udemy’s since 2015, made the investment.
Founded in 2009, Udemy has grown to 50 million students learning from 57,000 instructors on its platform, which offers courses including programming, data science and leadership, according to a statement Wednesday.
Other investors in Udemy include Stripes, Insight Venture Partners and Norwest Venture Partners. Udemy has raised more than $200 million in venture capital to date.
Udemy’s corporate learning product has also grown, reaching 5,000 companies in 2019. Its business clients include Adidas, Pinterest and Toyota. Udemy also offers a product for government agencies.
Udemy will use the money toward expansion of its San Francisco headquarters and offices in Denver, Ireland, India, Brazil and Turkey. Unlike other online course providers like Coursera that have partnered with universities for content, Udemy allows anyone to create a course.
Other providers of massive online courses that make plays for corporate learning market have attracted investor attention lately. Coursera raised $103 million last year and FutureLearn raised $65 million.
