Japan’s RareJob bets on language learning platform Multibhashi

Jaipur-based Multibhashi Solutions, which operates a language learning platform by the same name, has raised an undisclosed sum from a set of investors led by RareJob, a Japanese company that offers online English tutorials. The stage of investment was not specified.

According to a statement released by the company, the fresh funds will be used to expand its customer base, strengthen its team and improve its product.

The company was founded in 2017 by Anuradha Agarwal. It operates a mobile application which enables a user to learn about a dozen languages including English, Tamil, Malayalam, Punjabi, Bengali and Hindi.

Multibhashi primarily targets 460 million blue-and grey-collar professionals in India who are looking to improve their skills in communicative English to enhance their career prospects, it said in the statement.

The company had previously raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round of funding in 2017 from angel investor Aniruddha Malpani and Startup Oasis, a joint initiative of Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation and the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship, IIM Ahmedabad.

RareJob was started in 2007, seeking to expand alliances with edtech startups outside Japan.

“Multibhashi is a unique model to deliver real learning outcomes with a combination of self-learning and tutor-led learning,” said Gaku Nakamura, CEO at RareJob.

The edtech sector has seen a number of startups get funded this month. 

Sunstone Education Technology, a Delhi-based startup that offers industry-ready education programmes, raised about $1.5 million in a seed round led by Prime Venture Partners.. Online classroom platform Lido Learning raised $3 million in a Series A funding round from Ronnie Screwvala, promoter of education platform Upgrad, and Ananth Narayanan, CEO of e-pharmacy Medlife, among other HNI (high networth individual) investors. Noida-based test-prep platform Gradeup raised $7 million in its Series A funding round from Times Internet (TIL), a subsidiary of media house Bennett Coleman and Co.