Ed-tech startup Chrysalis secures fresh funds

Chrysalis, an education services provider operated by EZ Vidya Pvt. Ltd, has raised an undisclosed amount in fresh capital from two institutional investors.

The company said in a statement that Menterra Venture Advisors, a social impact-focused venture capital fund, and The Artha Initiative, an impact investment initiative associated with Switzerland-based Rianta Capital, had participated in the funding round.

Chennai-based Chrysalis will use the money for research and development.

Earlier this year, the company had raised pre-Series A investment from impact investor Gray Matters Capital. 

“Affordable private schools constitute a large chunk of our school system, and we intend to reach out to every school in this segment,” said Chitra Ravi, founder and chief executive of Chrysalis.

Founded in 2001 by Ravi, Chrysalis provides academic and learning assessment solutions to schools and children. Its flagship product is ThinkRoom, an academic programme developed in-house.

Last year, Chrysalis introduced Buzzle Cards, which helps impart core concepts of mathematics and English using augmented reality through an app. The app animates images on cards, making the learning experience immersive for the student.

“We need organisations focused on the difficult trinity of learning outcomes, sound economic fundamentals and impact on underprivileged students,” said Maya Chandrasekaran, education lead at Menterra.

Chrysalis claims to have reached out to 2.5 lakh students across 11 states and 500-plus schools.

Investors

Early-stage impact investor Menterra Venture Advisors Pvt. Ltd typically invests in for-profit enterprises in education, agriculture and healthcare. Chrysalis marks its fourth education bet. Its previous investments include online learning startup Math Buddy, skill development platform Leap Skills Academy, medtech startup Biosense Solutions and ed-tech startup Curiositi.

The firm had marked the final close of the debut fund at Rs 50 crore ($7.74 million) last year.

VCCircle reported earlier this year that Menterra had committed a bulk of its debut fund and was on the verge of closing new deals outside the education segment.

Artha Initiative is focused on impact investment in the social enterprise space in India. It had previously backed disposable tableware firm Tamul Plates and fintech startup Artoo.

Menterra acts as the investment partner and manager for Artha in India.

Deals in the space

A number of ed-tech and digital learning companies have received external funding in recent months.

Last month, Smartivity Labs Pvt. Ltd, which designs toys and learning projects for kids, raised $2 million (Rs 13 crore) in fresh funding led by an individual investor.

In April, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said it would invest $180 million (Rs 1,175 crore) in ed-tech startup Embibe.

In March, ed-tech startup Buddy4Study had raised $3 million (Rs 20 crore) in Series A funding from existing investor CBA Capital, which is backed by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF).

Kriger Campus, IndigoLearn, and Callido Learning are among the other ed-tech startups to have raised funding in recent months.