Former Paytm & Ola executive Anuj Vishwakarma to lead upGrad's online higher-ed

Higher edtech unicorn upGrad, on November 22, appointed Anuj Vishwakarma as the President of its online higher-ed programs. In his new role, Vishwakarma will be responsible for building the online higher-ed vertical and scaling the business, said the company.

In a statement, upGrad said Vishwakarma will operate from upGrad's Bengaluru office and will also collaborate with multiple teams across upGrad divisions to scale their program vertical.

Prior to upGrad, the company said he has driven growth for consumer internet players like Myntra, Paytm and Ola. Vishwakarma, the company added, has led Ola as its Revenue & Growth Head and Paytm as its Growth Head for Travel Business.

"Vishwakarma, for his domain inclination, is best suited to perform in-depth market research and consumer insights to spearhead our vertical growth. His efforts will further solidify our core business while also enhancing our domestic LifeLongLearning suite," said Mayank Kumar, co-founder, and managing director of upGrad.

An MBA degree holder from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore and a National Institute of Technology (NIT) Bhopal alumnus, Vishwakarma has over 10 years of experience building consumer businesses in the fintech, online retail, and offline retail sectors, according to upGrad.

"...upGrad's vision is synergistic and I look forward to utilising my domain expertise to build a stronger business foundation for driving career outcomes for our potential learners. This will help me contribute towards strengthening the brand's reputation across a wider audience," added Vishwakarma.

This comes at a time when upskilling and higher edtech players such as upGrad, SoftBank-backed Eruditus, Tiger Global-backed Scaler, and Krishna Kumar's Simplilearn are witnessing strong growth even as demand for the online K-12 (kindergarten to class 12) sector is falling with the reopening of schools, colleges, and tuition centres.

upGrad has also been on an acquisition spree. The company has acquired more than 13 companies since the start of 2022. It also doubled its valuation after raising $210 million in what was one of the largest funding rounds raised by Indian edtech companies in 2022.