Udemy raises $60M from Naspers to grow its online education platform globally

Online education company Udemy has raised another $60 million in funding, this time from the venture capital arm of South African media and Internet giant Naspers.

Founded out of San Francisco in 2010, Udemy is capitalizing on the growing popularity of MOOCs — massive open online courses — by offering a myriad of courses covering languages, photography, pet care, and many other topics.

Today’s news comes exactly a year to the day after Udemy announced a $65 million funding round, and takes its total amount raised flying past the $170-million mark. The company says it will use its fresh cash influx to “continue its strong international momentum” and localize its course content for specific markets. Larry Illg, CEO of Naspers Ventures, is also joining Udemy’s board of directors.

“With two-thirds of our students and over half of our instructors located outside the U.S., Udemy has made huge strides in opening access to learning and teaching opportunities worldwide, yet we are just at the beginning of realizing the full potential of online learning,” explained Dennis Yang, CEO of Udemy, in a press release. “We’ve reached a critical juncture in our global economy where everyone needs to embrace lifelong learning and take initiative for up-skilling themselves.”

Udemy is just one of many online learning startups to raise notable sums of cash over the past year. Duolingo nabbed $45 million, while Coursera took in another $49.5 million. Earlier this year, fledgling math-focused tutoring startup Math Crunch raised a more modest $4 million and expanded into science under a new brand.