Discovery engine for hobby class seekers FindURClass gets funding from VentureNursery's angels

Mumbai-based FindURClass Pvt Ltd, the company behindFindURClass.com, an online search and discovery platform that connects class seekers of extracurricular activities and hobbies to educators, has received an undisclosed sum in funding from VentureNursery's angels.

The investors who participated in the funding include Artha Venture Partners, Amit Patni, Arihant Patni, Vishal Maheshwari, Samir Shah, Anand Ladsariya, Anuj Golecha, Vikas & Kanwal Kapoor, Krishna & Aditya Jhunjhunwala, Nishant Raisoni and Nitin Agarwal.

The funds will be used to upgrade FindURClass' technology, user interface and experience.

A media report pegged the investment at Rs 1.5 crore (under $250,000).

The startup was established by Rina Nathani (founder and CEO), a former director with KPMG, along with Aakash Jethwani (co-founder and tech lead), who has experience in semantic search and website analytics.

Launched last year, FindURClass.com is an aggregator of activity and hobby classes in the country. Currently, it has listed over 6,000 classes across 10 different categories such as art & craft, fitness and health, music, singing & dance, cooking, beauty & fashion, photography, film and acting, sports & adventure, languages and education.

FindURClass was a graduate of VentureNursery's 5th acceleration programme.

"The idea for FindURClass.com came through a personal pain point and need. Being a parent and living in a stressful city like Mumbai, where there is limited space and options for things to do, I am continuously looking for good, reliable classes and activities for my children. I want them to learn new skills and excel in what they are passionate about," said Rina.

The current market for such classes is highly unorganised and fragmented, and the entire process for finding a class is cumbersome and time-consuming.

"FindURClass aims to solve these common problems faced by parents and adults. We provide you with all the information that you need to make an informed decision when selecting a class. Class providers are also curated to ensure quality," she added.

Venture Nursery is an angel-backed startup accelerator founded in March 2012 by Shravan Shroff, founder and former MD of Fame Cinemas, and Ravi Kiran, former CEO (Southeast & South Asia) at Starcom MediaVest Group and co-founder and managing partner of Friends of Ambition.

VentureNursery conducts a minimum of two boot camps per year in Mumbai and targets to accommodate up to eight startups in each programme across media & entertainment, retail, e-commerce, consumer technology, education and cleantech. At the end of each programme, successfully graduating startups are evaluated for investment.

In July this year, VentureNursery's angels invested in SeekSherpa, a mobile marketplace for hyper local travel information and experiences.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)