Coursera graduates to public markets in $519m IPO

Coursera, a US-headquartered online education provider spun out of Stanford University, is floating today in a $519m initial public offering representing an exit for University of Pennsylvania and California Institute of Technology.
The company is issuing nearly 14.7 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange while shareholders are divesting more than 1 million of their shares. They are priced at the top of the IPO’s $30 to $33 range, giving it a market capitalisation of nearly $4.3bn.
Coursera’s online platform offers educational content on a range of subjects, enabling adult learners to acquire new skills and improve their knowledge. It increased revenue 59% to $294m in 2020, though its net loss also went up, from $48.4m to $66.6m.
The offering follows approximately $443m in funding for Coursera, including $63m in a series B round featuring higher education provider Laureate Education the following year.
University of Pennsylvania, California Institute of Technology, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), GSV Asset Management, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Learn Capital, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Yuri Milner and unnamed university investors also took part in the 2013 round.
The company subsequently received $61.1m in a 2015 series C round led by NEA and backed by media group Bennett, Coleman & Co’s Times Internet subsidiary, KPCB, Learn Capital, IFC GSV Asset Management and EDBI.
NEA, GSV Asset Management, Learn Capital, KPCB and Lampert Foundation then supplied $64m in series D funding in 2017 at an $800m valuation.
The 2017 valuation was pushed above $1bn in a $103m series E round in 2019 led by online education and recruitment group Seek that also featured NEA and Australia’s Future Fund.
Coursera added $130m from Seek, NEA, KPCB successor Kleiner Perkins, Learn Capital, SuRo Capital Corp and G Squared in a July 2020 series D round valuing it at $2.5bn.
None of the company’s main investors are selling shares in the offering and none of the corporates own stakes above 5%. Its largest shareholders are NEA, owner of an 18.3% stake being cut to 16.2%, followed by G Squared (14.1% post-IPO), KPCB Holdings (8.2%) and Future Fund (7%).
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are lead book-running managers for the IPO while Citigroup and UBS Investment Bank are also bookrunners, and KeyBanc Capital Markets, Raymond James, Stifel, Truist Securities, William Blair, DA Davidson, Needham & Company, Loop Capital Markets and Telsey Advisory Group are co-managers.
The underwriters have a 30-day option to acquire nearly 2.36 million more shares at the IPO price, potentially lifting the size of the offering to approximately $597m.
The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.