Sunstone Raised $28M as Part of its Series B Funding!

Walter Elliot had once rightly said that "Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other." And in a series of constant short races, we at Sunstone have emerged victorious yet again!

We are beaming with happiness to share yet another milestone achieved this year that Sunstone raised 28 Million USD in Series B Funding! The funding was spearheaded by WestBridge Capital, with persistent participation from existing investors Saama Capital and Alteria Capital along with Work10M.

Among our prime supporting partners were Pankaj Bansal and Ash Lilani. It's their unending support and conviction in the vision of Sunstone which allowed us to raise 28 million USD.

$28 Million and Growing!

You may be wondering why we raised 28 Million USD. So, we are here to tell you the reason behind it.

As the third-largest B-school in the country, we have one aim: to provide a quality education that works for every student. In order to make this dream a reality, our goal is to use this fresh capital of 28 Million USD to invest in cutting-edge learning.

The higher education structure in India is severely fragmented as 50,000+ institutions fail to provide quality education to students. As pointed out by Piyush Nangru, Co-Founder and COO, “ Indian Higher education institutions don’t have enough resources to manage the upcoming supply for certain courses. Sunstone acts as a direct-to-consumer brand for students, following a hybrid learning model. For corporates, Sunstone provides standardised high-quality talent which is otherwise difficult to find.”

How Will This Funding Facilitate Our Growth?

Currently registering a 4X growth over student enrollments in 2020, expansion to 24 campuses across 18 cities, an unwavering 150% placement record for the 2019-21 MBA batch along with hiring across multiple domains, we envision this funding to act as a catalyst of growth and further expansion.

Co-founder and CEO, Ashish Munjal said, "The current funding is an endorsement to Sunstone’s unique model of working with reputed colleges and corporates, using technology to bring quality education to millions of students".

We at Sunstone aim to collaborate with educational institutions across the country on four fronts:

• Developing a relevant curriculum
• Ensuring measurable learning
• Providing better student experience
• Encouraging career readiness in students

These four aspects are integrated through a technology-led approach which confirms better education and job prospects for students across the nation.

Sandeep Singhal, Managing Director, WestBridge Capital notes, “Sunstone’s higher education programs have the potential to bring in the much-awaited transformation in the Indian education system where students will now have access to high-quality education in all corners of the country. Sunstone's growth and innovation in technology and learning systems is something to look forward to.”

This funding of 28 Million USD will enable us to invest in technology assets, building a network of colleges across multiple cities, and hiring across different functions. 

We expect to expand our campus partnerships from 24 to 60+ and look forward to establishing a presence across 35 Indian cities over the next year.

This funding of $28 Million USD will propel us forward to actualise our goals in the near future.

About Sunstone

At Sunstone, we bring accountability to students’ careers with the help of our Pay After Placement program where students only need to pay a minimal registration fee for enrollment and pay the rest once they secure a job. Our Money-Back Guarantee program also provides students with the option to reclaim their fee if they are unable to find a favourable job by the end of their course.

Our online and offline programs prepare students for the ever-evolving business world. Furthermore, our curriculum focuses on imparting relevant knowledge of business concepts and principles which are genuinely put to use in the real world. We have a tech-led pedagogy, faculty who have corporate experience, and a student-centric approach that transforms the students’ careers and focuses on their holistic development.

Our partnership includes some of the prominent institutions such as GD Goenka University, JECRC University, Noida Institute of Engineering and Technology to name a few.

We work closely with corporates to develop industry-ready programs for both postgraduate and undergraduate students, with a special focus on BFSI, Business Analytics, Logistics, Sales Management, Retail, Digital Marketing and others. 

We have scaled our student enrolment from 250 in 2019 to 2,400 in 2021. And we aim to further our enrolment to 25,000 students by next year.  Circling back to the quote we started with, perseverance is a series of short races, and we only look forward to gearing up for the next one!