Lead School secures $30 mn to build brand, launch new products

Mumbai based Leadership Boulevard, which offers an integrated academic excellence system to schools under the brand Lead School, has raised $30 million in a growth funding round, dubbed a Series D round. 

Global venture capital fund GSV Ventures led the round, while returning investor WestBridge Capital was a participant, Lead School said in a statement.  

The fresh capital will be used to accelerate Lead School’s growth by building a pan India brand, rolling out new products, making strategic acquisitions and hiring top talent across domains, the company said.   

The firm, which acquired student assessment startup QuizNext in December 2020, last raised funds in a $28 million Series C round, led by WestBridge and Elevar Equity, in August 2020.  

This is Lead School’s fourth round of institutional fundraise -- it first raised capital in 2017, in a round led by Elevar.  

Including the latest round, the company has so far raised a total of $67.27 million, according to VCCEdge data.   

Lead School claims its integrated system has driven a three-fold growth in 2020 by helping schools deliver uninterrupted learning in online, hybrid and physical classrooms. The startup claims to cater to over 2,000 schools with more than 8 lakh students. It aims to provide services to 25,000 schools in the next five years, as per the statement.

Co-founders Sumeet Yashpal Mehta and Smita Deorah began their Lead School journey in 2012 by running affordable schools and teaching middle school students. Based on their hands-on experience, they built an education solution that combined technology, curriculum and pedagogy into an integrated system of teaching and learning.  

The company has been aggressively strengthening its leadership team with new appointments. It has hired Ritwik Khare as chief commercial officer, Harsh Kundra as chief technology officer and Vipul Redey as chief excellence officer, among others.  

GSV Ventures is a women-led, multi-stage venture capital firm focused on the education sector. The fund is currently investing out of GSV Ventures Fund II, which has also backed Indian startups CoLearn and Quizizz. It looks to make the first close of GSV Ventures Fund III in 2021.   

“Lead School is rapidly emerging as a paradigm for transforming K-12 education. Based in India and partnered with affordable school owners (a segment that is larger than the entire US K-12 system), Lead serves over 800,000 students today and has experienced tremendous growth because of its consistent delivery of high academic outcomes to students and high ‘return on education’ to teachers, school owners and parents,” Deborah Quazzo, managing partner at GSV Ventures. said.   

Other edtech firms that recently raised funds include upGrad, Byju’s, CoLearn, and PlayShifu.