Matrix Partners India backs edtech platform Toddle

Education technology startup Toddle, a productivity platform for teachers across all stages of teaching and learning, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from venture capital firm Matrix Partners India. 

The round also saw participation from seed stage venture capital firm Better Capital as well as angel investors, including Swiggy co-founder Rahul Jaimini, the company said in a press statement.

The firm previously raised $200,000 in a seed round in May 2019 led by the Development Bank of Wales, according to data from Crunchbase.

“Today’s teachers are very tech-savvy and use technology for a variety of needs. The struggle is that they have to juggle between multiple tools... With Toddle, our goal is to simplify the entire teaching and learning cycle with one seamless and intuitive solution. We are excited to partner with the team at Matrix, Vaibhav (Domkundwar, CEO and co-founder of Better Capital), and (Swiggy’s) Jaimini as we build tools that teachers love to use day after day,” Deepanshu Arora, co-founder of Toddle, said.

Toddle, which is operated by Bengaluru-based Teacher Tools, was founded by Arora and Parita Parekh in July 2018. Arora is an IIT Kanpur alumnus and a former McKinsey employee, while Parekh is a Brown University graduate. Arora had earlier launched WonderBoxx, which offered learning tools for children aged between one and eight. 

Toddle helps teachers streamline curriculum planning, documentation, parent communication and analytics – all with one interface. The platform claims that over 10,000 teachers across the world are using the app on a daily basis.

“Teachers all over the world are adopting technology in their classrooms... Having been educators themselves, the Toddle team has built a world-class product that is revolutionising the way teachers plan, interact and collaborate with other teachers, students and parents,” Rajat Agarwal, director at Matrix India, said. 

Matrix Partners India, the local franchise of US-based Matrix Partners, has around $1 billion under management and has been investing here since 2006. The firm invests in companies targeting the Indian consumer and enterprise market at the seed, early and early growth stages. Its investments in the edtech sector include Testbook and Pesto. 

Over the years, the firm has backed more than 60 companies including cab-hailing platform Ola, online classifieds platform Quikr, budget hotel chain Treebo, mobile payment services firm Mswipe, digital healthcare firm Practo and social commerce platform Limeroad.

The edtech sector has been gaining popularity lately and attracting investor interest. Last week, Byju’s became the most valued company in the segment after its valuation soared to $8 billion with a fundraise of $200 million from Tiger Global. 

Delhi-based Aakash Educational Services earlier this month acquired a majority stake in Meritnation, a platform providing online coaching to school students.