Online marketplace for tutors and institutions ThinkVidya raises angel funding

Bangalore-based education startup ThinkVidya Learning Pvt Ltd, the company behind ThinkVidya, an online marketplace for tutors, teachers and institutes, has secured an undisclosed amount in funding from a US-based serial entrepreneur and angel investor.

The capital will be used to expand its physical presence in multiple cities across India, and hire people in sales, marketing, technology and operations. A portion of the funding will also go towards acquiring new customers and sprucing up its technology platform.

"We just finished a solid year of growth and this investment is going to help us expand considerably in 2014," said Rakesh Kalra, CEO, ThinkVidya.

ThinkVidya was founded in 2011 by Kalra, who has over 14 years of experience in working with different internet startups in the US. Prior to starting ThinkVidya, he was VP (technology) at Care.com. Kalra holds a master's degree in Computer Science from Boston University and a BE degree from PEC University of Technology in Chandigarh.

ThinkVidya has developed a LinkedIn-like platform for the teaching community, where individual teachers (including sports trainers) or institutes can create profiles, add skills or experience details, get recommendations from past students, showcase their class videos, add photo galleries of classes or workshops, upload online courses or conduct trainings and workshops.

It serves a wide range of categories that include school or college tuitions, entrance exams, sports, computer training, dance, music, photography, painting, cooking, and yoga.

The firm claims that its revenues grew 4.5 times last year compared to 2012 with the user base rising four times. Currently, over 130,000 individual teachers, tutors and institutes are registered on the platform. It plans to grow both its revenue and user base significantly and expand team size to 70 members by the end of this year. Currently, it has 30 people.

Last week, Noida-based e-learning company iProf Learning Solutions India Pvt Ltd secured $9 million in Series B round of funding, led by Daily Mail Group Information (DMGI) on behalf of its education subsidiary Hobsons, with participation from existing investors Norwest Venture Partners and IDG Ventures.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)