Coursera has raised $43 million and will use it to market its free online education service to millions of students, VentureBeat.com reported.

In its first year of existence, the Silicon Valley-based company has raised a total of $65 million. Coursera offers massive open online courses (MOOCs), which take students into some of the most prestigious schools, for anyone with an Internet connection.

So far, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, Yale, Northwestern, Stanford, its birthplace, and many others offer the online education service.

Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller, both Stanford computer science professors, created the company in April 2012. Ng was the first to try it out by offering his introductory computer science course to the public via Internet.

The two creators said their service is not meant to be an alternative to college, but rather a super-cheap supplement to college. It provides students with the opportunity to try a subject, or a course, before actually paying for it. For example, a student without a major may decide to take five different MOOCs in a given semester all in completely different subjects just to try them out. It also provides schools with a chance to attract students into their actual classroom by giving them a look into it beforehand.

Some colleges are even offering credit for their MOOCs and were approved to do so by the American Council on Education.

"The movement is still relatively young, but I'm pleased we're seeing so many of the best universities committing to teach online classes" Ng told Venture Beat. "This proves we're no passing fad."

Coursera currently has agreements with 83 institutions in four continents and offers about 400 free courses to millions of students across the globe. However, Koller said she would still like to reach the undeveloped world, young women specifically, by targeting specific universities.

"If you want to improve a society, the most significant thing you can do is educate its girls [and] we are committed to that," said Koller.

Coursera is at the head of a rapidly growing service that includes companies such as EdX and Udacity.