India-based education technology startup upGrad is looking to build on the legacy of Mailchimp and other successful Midtown startups with its new Ponce City Market office.
The startup is investing much of the $185 million it raised earlier this year into an expansion into the United States. UpGrad partners with universities to adapt graduate degrees to online formats. Georgia’s robust university system and its talent pool of former and current startup employees made Atlanta a perfect fit.
It helps that Karan Raturi, the North American general manager, is a Georgia Institute of Technology graduate.
“The startup journeys and stories we’ve seen in Atlanta have created this incredible pool of product engineers, business development executives or marketing executives,” Raturi said. “We can tap into that pool at a cost structure that’s favorable within the U.S.”
UpGrad has about 1,000 square feet in the Ponce City Market’s Industrious office. There are 12 employees in the U.S. and 40 in India dedicated to the U.S. expansion, Raturi said. The startup plans to hire 15 more based in Atlanta over the next six months.
The local divisions include product business development, marketing and instructional design for the online courses.
Ponce City Market and the surrounding office buildings have emerged as a hotspot for tech companies that want to be close to Georgia Tech’s Technology Square innovation district and the amenities along the Eastside BeltLine Trail.
Marketing technology startup Mailchimp, which was recently bought for $12 billion by Intuit, was a leader in the Ponce City Market tech boom. It currently occupies multiple floors in the converted Sears, Roebuck & Co. Warehouse, but is gearing up to move across the street. Ponce City Market’s tech reputation also attracted gambling and daily fantasy entertainment company FanDuel earlier this year.
Midtown, the epicenter of Atlanta’s growing technology ecosystem, is seeing booming demand from tech companies, even as some firms reduce office space in favor of remote work.
Portman Holdings is planning a 500,000-square-foot office tour in the area because of the surge in tech jobs and interest. Google and Microsoft have both shown commitments to in-person office space with massive Atlanta expansions, a lead that many other tech companies are following.
UpGrad has a hybrid office model. The team travels often to meet with universities, Raturi said, and the Atlanta office serves as a collaboration space among employees.
“There’s an element of strategy and execution that we benefit from in close interaction,” Raturi said. “I’ve noticed very innovative companies are often finding that some in-person is better than all remote.”
UpGrad has a partnership with Kennesaw State University and is inking more deals with Georgia universities, Raturi said. The KSU programs include a customer centricity course for corporations to assign to their employees as well as a master’s in cybersecurity.
UpGrad’s degree programs are dual-branded with the partnered universities and use professors’ content. UpGrad helps by making those lectures or resources available in an online format and provides a career platform for students. It costs $10,000 per degree.
The startup plans to enroll 2,000 students in North America in its online degree programs in the next six months, hoping to quickly scale up to the amount of students it has globally. About 8,500 students graduated with a master’s degree in data science in the last nine months, Raturi said.
