Guild Education is now the latest startup in the education sector that has a valuation of more than $1 billion. In the recent Series D funding of $157 million picked up by the company, Guild Education is the new unicorn. This funding is more than double the funding they picked in the Series C round- $71.5 million.
The ed-tech company provides the employees of Fortune 1000 companies with the neccessary upskilling and educational programs with the help of higher education institutes, thus helping them in return. Guild Education is one of the rare unicorns that are headed by females.
According to Rachel Carson, founder, and CEO of Guild Education, the company is not profitable at the moment but there have been quite some months where the bottom line was positive. The revenue earned is often used in expansion and research.
Guild Education partners with leading MNCs and universities
Some of the renowned partners of Guild are Chipotle, The Walt Disney Company, Taco Bell, etc. Recently it was announced by Chipotle that it would cover 100% education and tuition of the employees who have spent more than 4 months with the organization. Under the program, there are employees across 42 states of America pursuing various degrees.
As far as higher education institutes are concerned, Guild has already partnered with likes of the University of Arizona, Purdue Global and the University of Central Florida, just to name a few.
The main revenue is generated by the education partners who pay Guild for their role as student recruitment services. Guild also provides a special team dedicated to the students for counseling and advising on choosing the courses.
It is already established that employees that are provided with such incentives are more bound to stick together with the company. The employees are also eager for senior management positions. Another study claims that employees that have taken the educational incentives are more than twice likely to get promoted.
As the education fee is going higher and higher day by day, these incentives are the best tools for recruitment.
Guild Education was founded in 2015 and is now backed by some of the world’s leading VCs like General Catalyst, Emerson Collective, Silicon Valley Bank and many others.
Featured image from Pixabay.