Toppr raises $46.7 mn in growth funding round led by Foundation Holdings

Mumbai headquartered artificial intelligence (AI)-based learning platform Toppr said it has raised Rs 350 crore ($46.7 million as per current exchange rates) in a growth funding round, led by Foundation Holdings.

Returning investors, including Kaizen Private Equity, also participated in the round, as per a statement.

Including the current round, Toppr has raised a total of Rs 700 crore so far. Early investors in the firm include Helion Venture Partners, Eight Roads Ventures India and SAIF Partners India, who also participated in Toppr’s $35 million Series C funding round in 2018, according to data sourced from VCCEdge.

The company will use the fresh capital to develop its adaptive AI learning platform and launch an integrated platform for schools, called Toppr School Operating System, to digitalise in-school and after-school learning, a statement said.

Founded in 2013 by Hemanth Goteti and Zishaan Hayath, Toppr started as a test preparation platform for students to help them with engineering and medical entrance examinations.

“Toppr has been at the forefront of delivering adaptive learning to our students -- and now also to the teachers -- to ultimately enable a positive future for schools,” Hayath, also the CEO of Toppr, said.

“With this investment, we now have the capability and reach to truly revolutionize the K-12 education experience and ensure that no learner is left behind. We are also excited about the launch of the School OS and believe this will be a ground- breaking initiative empowering teachers and schools across the industry,” he added.

Toppr covers 22 curriculums across multiple state and national boards for schools in India, focussing on students from class 5 to 12. The platform hosts over a million sessions daily and has served over 1.3 crore students.

“Our ambition is to implement an industry leading model for AI-enabled, blended education delivery by empowering educational institutions and teachers to create a platform of change and impact. Toppr’s market leading, proprietary machine learning technology is uniquely positioned to provide an integrated, curated, personalized pedagogy platform, mapped to 22 curriculums, designed to take schools to the future,” Aakash Sachdev, managing director of multi family office investment firm Foundation Holdings, said. Sachdev is set to join Toppr’s board as part of the deal.

Investor interest in online learning or edtech companies has increased as schools and educational institutions remain shut due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier this month, K-12 focused online tutoring platform Vedantu raised $100 million in a funding round led by Coatue Management Holdings. In June, Byju’s was valued at over $10 billion by Bond Capital through its recent investment into the company. Unacademy, which raised $110 million in February from General Atlantic and Facebook, has been on a consolidation spree, acquiring medical post graduate entrance exam platform PrepLadder for $50 million earlier this month, followed by a majority stake in K-12 learning platform Mastree.