In July, Coursera started raising USD43 million in a Series B financing round. Now, the education startup has surpassed that target by raising USD63 million in that round, according to a report published by TechCrunch.

Coursera told AllThingdD that it took a little longer to finish the round because of the longer due diligence process of the new investors. The additional funding came from three unnamed university partners. Existing investors Learn Capital and GSV Capital also participated in this round, the report said.

The online education company has raised a total of USD85 million to date. The funding will be used to pursue its goal of offering free Ivy League-level education through the Internet. The startup is a competitor of other massive open online courses (MOOCs) firms such as EdX and Udacity, said the report.

At present, over 5.5 million students have already enrolled for classes from 100 schools. Coursera boasts of a Signature Track program which allows students to pay for verified certificates as proof of completion of Coursera's online classes. The startup's verified certificate is not equivalent to a university degree. However, Coursera has made an arrangement with the American Council on Education (ACE) to evaluate the courses to see which can be credited to be used for a degree program, TechCrunch reported.