ImpactAlpha, December 2 – Vietnam-based Topica offers online education ranging from English tutoring and entrepreneurship to skills training and university-level degrees across six countries in Asia. Northstar Group, a $2 billion private equity firm based in Singapore, invested $50 million in the 10-year-old company’s Series D round.
Topica was founded as part of a Vietnamese education initiative to enable “anyone to have a chance to [use] technology to upgrade their working efficiency and improve quality of life.” The company has evolved to serve students and entrepreneurs in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. It now partners with 16 universities worldwide and has graduated 6,200 degree students. Its Founder Institute, one of Vietnam’s early startup accelerator programs, has also supported startup founders that have reportedly gone on to raise $20 million.
Prior to its Series D, Topica had raised capital from impact investor Patamar Capital, Openspace Ventures, CyberAgent Ventures, EduLab Group and IDG Ventures.