Vedantu rides the edtech wave with $13 mn from Legend Capital, Omidyar

Bengaluru based Vedantu Innovations, which runs an eponymous interactive online tutorial platform, has raised $12.7 million (about Rs 96 crore) in an extended series C funding round led by venture capital firm Legend Capital.

Beijing-based Legend Capital invested $10 million (Rs 74 crore) while existing investor, Omidyar’s Ohana Holdings pitched in with $3 million (Rs 22 crore), according to regulatory filings. 

Vedantu has declined to comment on the development. 

In February, Vedantu had raised an additional $24 million as part of its Series C round, led by Menlo Park, California, and Shanghai-based venture capital firm GGV Capital. At that time, the company had said it would invest in brand building and to expand its product offerings for students from kindergarten to class 5.

Other investors in the firm include Tiger Global Management, WestBridge Capital, Trifecta Capital Advisors and Accel.

Founded by Linan Zhu in 2001, Legend Capital is the subsidiary of Legend Holdings. The firm invests in early stage information technology (IT) companies, specifically in sectors of network applications and services, outsourcing and professional services, infrastructure, and mid-market growth stage companies. It has so far invested in over 450 companies.

The latest round takes the company’s overall funding to $96 million so far.

Founded in 2011 by Vamsi Krishna, Anand Prakash, Saurabh Saxena and Pulkit Jain, Vedantu provides an interactive online learning experience. Tutors and students on the platform can interact via a whiteboard, audio and video environment.

Vedantu claims to have over 500 teachers and about 40,000 students spread across 30 countries.

In the live course segment, the platform competes with Facebook backed Unacademy and Gradeup. 

Overall, funding activity in the edtech segment has been pretty robust, with several companies raising capital in recent months.

 Unacademy, which focuses on providing students with access to experienced teachers, recently acquired examination preparatory portal for engineering graduates called Kreatryx. It had raised $110 million in a growth funding round from General Atlantic and Facebook in February this year. 

Quality Tutorials, which owns and operates online classroom platform Lido Learning closed its Series B funding round at $7.5 million.

Indiavidual Learning, which owns and operates online learning platform Embibe, is in the process to raise $65.92 million from promoter Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).

Byju’s, which is the most valued edtech venture in India, mopped up $200 million from New York headquartered private equity General Atlantic. The platform is valued at $8.2 billion.