Online tutoring startup Vedantu gets Series B cheque

Online tutoring startup Vedantu Innovations Pvt. Ltd has raised $11 million (around Rs 78 crore at current exchange rates) in a Series B funding round led by impact investment firm Omidyar Network. 

Bengaluru-based Vedantu said in a statement that existing investor Accel Partners and an overseas education conglomerate it did not name also participated in the round.

TechCircle was the first to report that Vedantu was in the process of finalising the fresh fundraise.

Vedantu plans to deploy the majority of the fresh capital to further develop its technology for creating a personalised live learning experience for students as well as developing its student app.

Founded in 2011 by Vamsi Krishna, Anand Prakash, Saurabh Saxena and Pulkit Jain, Vedantu’s online platform allows interaction between students and tutors via a whiteboard in an audio and video environment.

“By using technology tools, data and AI, we are not just connecting students to amazing teachers, but we are able to create a superior learning experience for students and aid in their outcome improvement, which is unlike any offline experience,” said Vamsi Krishna, co-founder and chief executive of Vedantu.

In May 2015, the company had raised $5 million in a Series A round from Accel and Tiger Global Management.

Late last year, the company raised close to $1 million in what was likely a bridge round of funding from Accel. In November 2016, it had raised around Rs 14.5 crore ($2.25 million) from Accel and Tiger Global.

The company offers one-year courses for CBSE and ICSE students from classes 9 to 12. Subjects offered include math, physics, chemistry and biology. For students in classes 11 to 12, Vedantu offers courses for engineering entrance exams.

Vedantu claims to have completed 800,000 hours of live classes with a student base of 40,000 from grades 4 to 12 and works with 500 teachers. According to the company, its student base is spread across over 1000 cities from 30 countries including in West Asia and Southeast Asia.

“Vedantu's one-to-many live classes are disrupting the market while providing students a meaningful learning experience through ‘star’ teachers and an AI-powered platform to students in over 400 cities,” said Siddharth Nautiyal, investment partner at Omidyar Network.

Ed-tech funding deals

A number of startups in the broader ed-tech space have raised funding recently. 

GuruQ, a community for online tutors, secured Rs 2.5 crore in a pre-Series A funding round from a clutch of high net-worth individuals (HNIs) last month.

Genius Corner, an analytics platform to evaluate the performance of tutors and students, recently raised Rs 2 crore from a clutch of angel investors.

In September, Jaipur-based experiential learning startup SRJNA raised an undisclosed amount from impact investor Gray Matters Capital’s edLABS initiative, angel network Keiretsu Forum and SucSEED Venture Partners.

In June, online learning platform Unacademy raised $21 million (Rs 144 crore) from existing investors Sequoia Capital, Nexus Venture Partners and SAIF Partners.

Omidyar Network

The Silicon Valley-headquartered impact investment firm was established by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.

After a relatively dormant 2017, Omidyar Network has already made more than a dozen bets this year, most of them new investments.

These include news portal The Ken, fintech startup Bon and travel firm RailYatra.