Omidyar, Nexus lead $10 mn Series A in edtech startup WhiteHat Jr

Mumbai-based education technology startup WhiteHat Jr raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by existing investors Omidyar Network India and Nexus Venture Partners. 

A new investor, Silicon Valley-based education technology-focused venture capital firm Owl Ventures, also participated in the funding round, the startup said in a statement.

WhiteHat will use the funds to strengthen its technology backbone and expand course curriculum.

The one-year-old startup had raised $1.3 million from venture capital firms Nexus and Omidyar in April this year.

“This is our second investment in India,” said Amit Patel, managing director, Owl Ventures. 

In July, Owl Ventures made its first Indian investment in edtech unicorn Byju’s when it participated in a $150 million funding along with Qatar Investment Authority.

WhiteHat Jr

Run by WhiteHat Education Technology, the venture was incorporated in late 2018 by former Discovery Networks chief executive Karan Bajaj. 

In January 2019, the startup launched the beta version of its product.

Whitehat Jr runs an online one-on-one platform, which teaches coding fundamentals such as sequence, structure, logic, commands and algorithmic thinking to kids in grades one to nine.

The startup claims to have developed its own original coding curriculum.

WhiteHat offers four levels of courses - beginner, intermediate, advanced and professional, and its courses help users create complex games, animations and apps. 

The startup says it has seen over 150,000 student trials, onboarded more than 500 teachers and claims to have witnessed a 100% month-on-month student and revenue growth. 

Recent edtech deals

Hyderabad-based edtech startup 3rdFlix raised $5 million in a funding round led by Bengaluru-based technology-focused venture capital firm Exfinity Ventures.

Bengaluru-based online tutoring startup Vedantu raised $42 million in a Series C round, led by existing investor Tiger Global and new investor Westbridge Capital.

Noida-based AdmitKard, which digitises the admission process, raised $1 million in pre-Series A funding round led by Australia-based edtech focused venture capital fund Growth DNA.

US-based early stage venture capital fund Gray Matters Capital invested an undisclosed amount in Delhi-based career counselling platform iDreamCareer.