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Udemy was founded by Eren Bali, who built software for an active virtual classroom while living in Turkey.4 He saw potential in making software free for everyone and so moved to Silicon Valley to create the company.
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The site was launched by Eren Bali, Oktay Caglar and Gagan Biyani in early 2010.
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The founders tried to increase venture capital raising, but the idea failed to try to impress investors, and the founders were turned away 30 times, according to Gagan Biyani. In response to this, they started from scratch with the development of the product, and it was released under the name Udemy (The Academy of You) in May 2010.
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The company raised $3 million in Series A from Groupon whose investors were Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, as well as 500 Startups and MHS Capital.
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The company raised $12 million in Series B by Insight Venture Partners, as well as Lightbank Capital, MHS Capital and Learn Capital, bringing Udemy a total funding of $16 million.
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The online edition of the Wall Street Journal reported that Dennis Yang, Udemy's Chief Operating Agent, was named CEO, replacing Eren Bali.
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Udemy grossed $65 million in Series D by Striped Group. In the same year, Udemy joined another online learning website called Skillsdox Inc of Canada to open School of Skills in India.
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Udemy raised $60 million by Naspers Ventures as a follow-up to the $65 million Series D funding round beginning in June 2015.
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Udemy announced that the company's board had appointed Kevin H. Johnson as its new chief executive officer effective immediately.
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Announced that it has been ranked #34 on the “2020 Change the World” list by Fortune Magazine. This global list represents the top 50 companies making a positive social impact through business practices that are part of their core company mission.
The “Change the World” list by Fortune Magazine celebrates companies and leaders that embrace corporate purpose and recognize how it can add value to business and society. -
Udemy today offers special services for business (Udemy for Business) that allows access to a specific set with more than 2,000 training courses on topics of digital marketing tactics for office productivity, design, administration, programming and more. With Udemy for Business, organizations can also create custom learning portals for corporate training.