Udacity, an online education startup, revealed that it has raised $35 million in funding, which CEO Sebastian Thrun is looking to use to further expand the company's online education services.
Thrun is aiming to improve the technical training that big companies need to administer to their employees working in fast-changing fields.
Unlike crowd-sourced education marketplaces Skillshare and Udemy, which tap the general public to teach a wide range of skills, Udacity works with corporations to develop online courses that the company can use for a variety of purposes, including training their potential and future employees.
Other groups such as Coursera, Minerva Project and Khan Academy look to provide a better experience than college. Udacity, however, is targeting college graduates with its services, as the company's offerings are built in cooperation with industry partners that are always on the lookout to hire skilled employees.
The industry partners of Udacity now number around 20, including top global companies such as Google, Facebook and Salesforce. These partners provide Udacity with the content, and then pay the company to create the online education programs using these content.
"We're taking specific jobs and reverse-engineering them to teach what's required and then certifying a person in that area," said Thrun.
With the additional $35 million, Udacity now has a total of $58 million in funding accumulated over its three years of existence.
Udacity also announced that it will be offering the first "nanodegree" course, which will allow students to learn a skill at a fraction of what a college degree costs. The nanodegree will let students prove that they have a mastery of a certain skill, without the lengthy time commitment and ballooning expense that a traditional college degree requires.
The first nanodegree, which will be on web development, will cost students only a total of $1,200 over six months, and is built with AT&T as a partner. AT&T paid $3 million for Udacity to develop the online course, which will include front-end and back-end web development and courses for data analysts and iOS developers.
About three million people have signed up for free courses offered by Udacity. The company also has premium services on offer, including feedback management, a helpline, personal mentorship and course completion certification, along with assisting users for job placements.
"The world demand for computing skills is increasing at a historically unprecedented rate with supply unable to keep up, regardless of the best efforts by academia, companies and governments," wrote Udacity COO Vish Makhijani in the company's official blog.
"With the strong interest and passion for learning we are seeing from students and partners, we are fully committed to bring education to millions of people to help them get jobs and advance their lifelong learning," Makhijani added.
