Eren Bali has built not one but two multi-billion dollar companies – Udemy and Carbon Health. His story is fascinating.
Udemy
Eren grew up in a small village in Turkey. As a kid, he kept his asking his parents for a computer. Finally, in 1998, as a teenager, Bali’s family got a used computer.
Eren’s new device delivered on his wildest dreams. Eren used it to level the playing field and learn, studying up for his math competitions. He deeply got to learn the power of the internet. Eren went to get a degree in mathematics, thanks to online learning.
In 2007, Eren and his longtime friend Oktay Caglar built software for a live virtual classroom. They saw potential in the business.
In a bold move, they moved to Silicon Valley to double down on their dreams. They linked up with Gagan Biyani and founded Udemy in 2010. Udemy was and still is a platform for instructors to build online courses.
In 2012 it raised a series B. In 2014, Eren stepped back from the CEO role to become chairman. The Udemy rocket would continue. The company has had exponential growth in learners:
1M learners in 2014
10M learners in 2017
44M learners in 2021 – 44x in 7 years
But that is just the B2C side of the business!
In 2015, Udemy launched a subscription product for business. Udemy Business (UB) is the ace in the hat for this unique investment opportunity. UB is now up to $182M in Q2 21 ARR. It had 80% growth YoY. 🤯
So how do the numbers all add up?
↗️ The consumer business is on an exponential curve.
🔁 The Net Dollar Retention Rate on the subscription business is 121%.
💰 2020 FY revenue grew 76% over 2019.
📠 The company generated over $141M in gross profit just in H121.
Back to Eren. Now that we know Udemy, what about his other company?
Carbon Health
After he stepped away from the CEO role in 2014, Eren spent three months in Turkey to help his mother. He saw first-hand inefficiencies in health care.
In 2017, Eren joined forces with former ER doctor Caesar Djavaherian. The two set out to build a company to make health care affordable to as many people as possible.
Carbon Health was born. The company combines brick-and-mortar clinics with app-based telehealth. It has since grown more than 39,734 percent over the past three years. It brought in more than $45 million in revenue in 2020.
Eren describes it as “a full-stack, omnichannel primary care provider with an obsession for inclusion and being accessible to everyone.” Now, there are more than 81 Carbon Health Clinics in 11 states, with 1,500 more planned by the end of 2025.
Eren never stops thinking big.
Like Udemy, Carbon Health is headed for IPO. Carbon Health was last valued at over $3B. “Our business model demands that we grow as fast as possible,” Eren says.
Can’t wait to get the next S-1 from this next Steve Jobs / Elon Musk / Jack Dorsey type. 🙌
