Two-dimensional semiconductors have emerged as a new class of materials for nanophotonics owing to their strong exciton–photon interaction1,2 and their ability to be engineered and integrated into devices3. Here we take advantage of these properties to engineer an efficient lasing medium based on direct-bandgap interlayer excitons in rotationally aligned atomically thin heterostructures4. Lasing is measured from a transition-metal dichalcogenide heterobilayer (WSe 2 –MoSe 2 ) integrated in a silicon nitride grating resonator. An abrupt increase in the spatial coherence of the emission is observed across the lasing threshold. The work establishes interlayer excitons in two-dimensional heterostructures as a gain medium with spatially coherent lasing emission and potential for heterogeneous integration. With electrically tunable exciton–photon interaction strengths5 and long-range dipolar interactions, these interlayer excitons are promising for application as low-power, ultrafast lasers and modulators and for the study of many-body quantum phenomena6.