Groupon co-founders invest in education portal

NEW YORK: Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell have invested in online educational site Udemy through their venture capital fund Lightbank. Udemy just announced a $3 million Series A round of financing led by Lightbank that also includes funding from MHS Capital and 500 Startups.

Udemy plans to use the money for hiring and marketing and biz development.

Udemy 'the academy of you' offers 6,000 courses covering all sorts of hobby-related subjects like social marketing, how to build a iPhone app, and Art 100 in addition to more traditional topics like intro to psychology. About 90 percent of Udemy’s courses are free.

Online education is a pretty hot sector now – just go ask the Washington Post and its Kaplan division which for the most part has been the driver of growth behind the company synoumous with Watergate and newspapers. Even News Corp is getting in on the act and set up an education unit focused on technology last year.

The $3 million round follows $1 million in funding from MHS Capital, 500 Startups, and several other individual investors.