Eruditus Plans to Shift Domicile Back to India, Eyes Listing on BSE or NSE
- ByStartupStory | January 22, 2024
Singapore-based edtech startup Eruditus is contemplating a return to India, joining a growing list of startups considering a ‘ghar-wapsi’ or shifting their domicile back to the country. The SoftBank-backed startup aims to list itself on either the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) or the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in the coming years, leading to its decision to return to India.
According to a report by ET, Eruditus is in discussions with two of the big four firms—Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PwC—to facilitate the process of shifting its base. This move comes on the heels of existing investors SoftBank and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board expressing interest in investing approximately $70 million via a secondary sale in the startup. The secondary sale is expected to take place at around $2.5 billion, representing a 20% discount to Eruditus’ previous valuation of $3.2 billion.
In addition to the secondary sale, Eruditus intends to raise another $70 million in a primary funding round, bringing the total funding to $140-150 million. Founded in 2010 by Ashwin Damera and Chaitanya Kalipatnapu, Eruditus offers executive education programs in collaboration with renowned global business schools such as Columbia, MIT, London Business School, Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and Tuck at Dartmouth, among others. The startup also offers courses from Indian institutions like IIT Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow, and BML Munjal University.
Eruditus’ decision to shift its base back to India follows a trend among Indian unicorns considering a ‘reverse flip’ to list on Indian stock exchanges. LivSpace, another Indian unicorn, recently expressed its intent to relocate its base from Singapore to India and is preparing for a listing on Indian stock exchanges by 2025. This move comes as several startups, including Pine Labs, Udaan, Meesho, Groww, and Razorpay, have shown interest in shifting their domiciles back to India.
These decisions reflect a shift in strategy by Indian startups, which initially moved abroad to benefit from foreign funding and tax policies. However, with the Indian government actively working on new regulations to improve the business environment and promote ease of doing business, many startups are now considering returning to India for their future growth and expansion plans.
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