Mumbai: upGrad, India’s largest online higher education company, today announced the appointment of Karan Raturi as the General Manager for North America. Responding to the staggering growth in the international learners, all of which happened organically, upGrad saw the scope for a focused and targeted approach to bolster this growth. With the right leadership at the helm to steer the company’s growth in this region, the edtech is looking to scale their international operations and expand upGrad’s presence and penetration in the US market.
A Wharton School alumnus, Karan has held a number of leadership roles throughout his career. Hejoins upGrad from Wayfair (NYSE: W), where he was the Head of Business Planning. Before Wayfair, Karan has worked as a consultant and advisor in corporate strategy, operations, private equity, venture capital, corporate development, and corporate finance with companies like IBM, Kurt Salmon, Novartis Venture Funds, and GTS. Karan’s appointment to grow upGrad’s business in the North American market is driven by the company’s ambition to expand across geographies and put India on the global edtech map.
On welcoming Karan to his new role, Arjun Mohan, CEO, upGrad India, said, “Excited to have Karan join us as the General Manager for North America. He will be leading the P&L and will be responsible for driving revenue, along with scaling the business operations in the region. With a doubling of learners in this area organically, we are confident about the region’s prospects and certain that Karan’s skills, intellect, and leadership will help us grow as a world–class team to achieve our vision.”
Karan Raturi, General Manager – North America, upGrad, further added, “I am thrilled to be part of such a robust and renowned team who have built a proven and trusted edtech brand in India. I look forward to deepening the brand’s presence in the region, and supporting learners across the US and Canada to build and accelerate their future careers.”
Over this fiscal year, the edtech major has noticed a remarkable spike in student enrolment from over 50 countries with the second largest chunk coming from the United States of America. The number of paid learners stood at 26% largely coming from the US and Canada markets. Additionally, the intent to know more about the various programs by international learners has grown 100% in the last one year. Collaboration with top-notch global universities like Liverpool John Moores University (UK), Deakin Business School (Australia), Duke Corporate Education (US), Michigan State University (US), Swiss School of Business Management, Geneva has been the catalyst for the international growth.
upGrad has been expanding its global presence by leaps and bounds. One can expect many other such exciting hires as company sources can confirm there is another leadership offer in the US market, this time reaffirming the edtech’s international university alliances. It had recently announced the CEO for the APAC region followed by the country head for Indonesia and the four-member board comprising of distinguished leaders for its UK operations.
